


The War Of The Nemeton

by XProSkeith



Series: The McCall Pack Chronicles [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Action, Allison Lives, Allison Lives AU, Alternate Universe - Allison Lives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Druid!Stiles, Canon Divergence, Canon Divergent, Complete, Druid Stiles, Druid Stiles Stilinski, Druid!Stiles, Druids, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Emissary!Stiles, Gen, Long, Multiple chapters, Nemeton, OC, Original Character(s), Post-Nogitsune, Post-Season/Series 03, Sciles, Skittles, chapters, completed work, druid, emissary stiles, finished work, long fic, multi-chaptered, post season 3B
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-01-25 10:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 50,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1645241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XProSkeith/pseuds/XProSkeith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The nogtisune incident has ended and things have been peaceful in Beacon Hills, but evil lurks just around the corner. Stiles has been having nightmares again. Something is calling out to him and warning him. War is coming to Beacon Hills and as their enemies converge on the town, a new ally makes his entrance. It 's up to the pack, their new found friend and ally, and their new emissary to protect the city and its ancient power. If they don't, then more than just Beacon Hills will pay the price.</p>
<p>Unrelated to the summary, if you want to talk to me, my tumblr can be found <a href="http://xproskeith.tumblr.com">here</a>. Thanks!</p>
<p>Below is cover art for the fic created by the wonderful <a href="http://bleep0bleep.tumblr.com/">bleep0bleep</a>.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p><br/><img/>  </p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stiles Awakens

**Author's Note:**

> Here's some accompanying art.
> 
>  
> 
> [Cover Art for the fic as a whole](http://xproskeith.tumblr.com/post/92847512465/the-war-of-the-nemeton-masterpost)
> 
>  
> 
> [Fan Art/Commissioned Work For the penultimate chapter, "Soul Link"](http://xproskeith.tumblr.com/post/94396937820/scerekqueen-this-was-a-commission-for)

A few months had passed since the end of the nogitsune incident. Things had been pretty calm in Beacon Hills lately. Peaceful and uneventful. The pack welcomed the break from the constant threat of the supernatural. That being said, Stiles had been having dreams again. They weren't nightmares, but they were vivid.

Stiles stood in a fog-filled forest. He spun around, confused. He had no idea where he was. He didn't recognize the trees, but he couldn't help but feel like they were familiar. That's when he heard the voice, a deep, ancient voice laced with power.

"Find me. Hurry. You must find me, Stiles," said the voice.

"Why? Why do I have to find you?" asked Stiles.

"You must hurry," the voice repeated. "They are coming. You must find me."

Stiles took off running through the forest. He didn't know where he was going and the further he went into the forest, the denser the fog became until he could no longer see the trees around him. It was a wall of white on each side of him and it felt suffocating. Stiles ran forward, finding it harder and harder to breathe in the dense fog. The voice intensified, repeating itself louder and louder in an endless loop.

"You must find me. You must hurry. They are coming."

The voice resounded around Stiles, becoming almost deafening. Stiles ran faster despite his lack of breath. His muscles shouted at him in pain telling him to stop, but he continued. He was running out of breath. Suddenly, he ran into a clearing. The fog was gone. Before him stood an all too familiar object. The nemeton.

"THEY ARE COMING. YOU MUST HURRY," the voice shouted louder than before.

It was the last thing Stiles heard before he blacked out.

Stiles sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily. He wasn't screaming or unable to differentiate between reality and his dream like in his previous nightmares, but he could feel his heart racing as if he had been running and his body felt oxygen deprived. He'd had the dreams about the fog-filled forest and the voice before, but he'd never managed to find the source of the voice. Until now.

Stiles shook his head, trying to clear it, and then placed his fingers to his forehead. The voice came from the nemeton. But why? He'd left that all behind when the nogitsune left him, right? What else could it possibly want? And why Stiles? Who was this they it was talking about? Stiles had so many questions. He decided that he'd talk to Scott about it tomorrow. For now, he rolled over and went back to sleep. This time it was a peaceful sleep.

Stiles met up with Scott the next day. Scott had a worried look on his face and Stiles knew why. The last time he had dreams like this it didn't end so well. He couldn't blame Scott for being worried about him. And even though he didn't want Scott to worry about him, he was glad Scott cared. Stiles wasted no time telling Scott about the dream he had last night in as much detail as he could.

"The nemeton?" asked Scott. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the nemeton. It's pretty distinct and has a habit of showing up in my dreams apparently," replied Stiles.

"But why? And what is it talking about when it says 'they're coming'?"

"I don't know. I wanted to talk to you about all this first though."

"Thanks," Scott said, his familiar smile creeping across his face, dispelling the look of concern. "But I think we should talk to Deaton. He probably knows something that can help us."

"Yeah you're probably right," said Stiles.

When they arrived at Deaton's clinic, they wasted no time in telling Deaton about the dream. Surprisingly, Deaton didn't seem at all surprised.

"You don't seem worried about this," said Stiles. "What do you know?"

"Well," said Deaton. "I had been expecting this for quite some time now."

"Expecting what?" asked Scott.

"Before I answer that, allow me to explain something. Scott, I've always helped you and your pack out when it was needed, but I was always rather uninvolved in the end, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. But what are you getting at?"

"Every pack needs an emissary, Scott. Just like it needs an alpha. But I could never be your emissary."

"Why not?"

"Simple. You're a true alpha. You're special, more powerful. But with greater power comes greater consequence and responsibility. A true alpha needs someone who can not only advise him and help him, like any emissary, but someone who can also balance him, compliment him, strengthen him, and pull him back if needed."

"That sounds like you're talking about Stiles."

"That's because I am. Much like a true alpha who only comes around every hundred years or so, a special kind of druid comes around every hundred years or so. He is born of a non-magical bloodline and will awaken when his alpha or circumstances finally demand him. He will be someone who has always been close to the true alpha; their fates having been intertwined long ago. This druid possesses exceptional power, ability, and potential. They can even harness the power of the world tree, the tree of life. Aptly, we call him a world druid."

"So you're saying that I'm actually some kind of special druid and I'm supposed to be Scott's emissary?" asked Stiles, looking a little overwhelmed.

"Basically, yes," replied Deaton.

"How am I supposed to do that? I don't know anything about being a druid or an emissary or any of that stuff. How am I supposed to help Scott like that?"

"But, Stiles, haven't you always been Scott's advisor? His confidant? And haven't you always given Scott good advice?"

Stiles looked over at Scott who was nodding as he said, "Yeah, he has."

Stiles actually looked a little surprised when he said, "You.. Think I give good advice?"

Scott beamed at him and said, "Yeah. You always have. And there's no one I trust more than you."

“Well, even if I give you good advice, I don't know anything about druids or magic or any of that.”

“When you finally awaken,” said Deaton. “Much of the knowledge of druidic magic will flow into you. It'll come from the tree of life which you are connected to.”

“So how do I 'awaken'?” asked Stiles, a hint of sarcastic awe in his voice.

“That can happen in many different ways, but, given the nature of your dreams, I'd say it has to do with the nemeton. Which brings us to the real problem. Why is it not only calling you, but saying that someone is coming for it?”

“You said the nemeton is a great source of druid power. It's also where all the streams in Beacon Hills meet,” said Stiles.

“And we restored some of its power when we became sacrifices,” added Scott.

“Right, so what does that suggest?” asked Deaton.

“That someone's coming for the nemeton's power,” replied Scott.

Deaton nodded and said, “Yes, that is most likely.”

“What would happen if someone was able to use the nemeton's power?” asked Stiles.

“I'm not sure,” replied Deaton. “The nemeton has been inactive, nearly dead, for quite some time now. I imagine, in that state, it wouldn't be very useful. But if it were at its full power like it used to be, in the wrong hands, it could be disastrous.”

“Disastrous? Can you be more specific?”

“Well, it would depend on the power of the nemeton, the user, and their intentions. Assuming the nemeton is at full power, things could be apocalyptic almost. Basically, death and destruction if the user wants it.”

“The nemeton sounds like a terrible thing. Wouldn't it be better off destroyed?”

“The nemeton is ultimately a tool. It has immense potential, but, in the end, the power it holds can bring forth either salvation or destruction at the whim of the user.”

“Basically, the nemeton is neither good nor evil then,” said Scott.

“Right. And destroying it would undoubtedly have some negative effects on Beacon Hills,” said Deaton. “Remember, the town is linked to the nemeton and the streams.”

“I guess that means we're not destroying it,” said Stiles. “So, what do we do then?”

“We'll protect it,” answered Scott. “Just like we always have. It's a part of Beacon Hills after all.”

“Good. But for now,” said Deaton. “I think it would be a good idea to check on the nemeton. If it's calling to Stiles, it's for a reason.”

Scott and Stiles nodded in agreement before quickly departing for the nemeton. Scott sent a text to everyone to tell them to meet at the nemeton. He wasn't sure what they'd find when they got there, so he figured it would be better to be prepared. It didn't take them long to reach the nemeton. Stiles had no problem finding it. He felt drawn to it. The rest of the pack appeared shortly after they arrived, including Allison who had now fully recovered from the stab wound that she received during the fight with the oni. The group gathered on the outskirts of the nemeton's clearing and Scott explained what Deaton had told them.

“So Stiles is supposed to be our emissary?” asked Isaac, sounding a little skeptical.

“You know, Isaac, I've had just about-” Stiles started.

“That's enough, you two,” interrupted Scott. “Yes, Isaac. He's my emissary. Or he will be. He has to awaken first though.”

“So you're saying he has performance issues,” said Isaac.

Stiles took a step forward and was about to say something, but Scott grabbed Stiles' arm and shook his head, stopping Stiles.

“You two really need to start working together,” said Scott. “But that's not why we're here. We're here because we need to check on the nemeton.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” asked Lydia.

“I'm not sure,” replied Scott. “Deaton just said to check on it. He wasn't very specific.”

“Typical,” said Lydia.

“Well, it looks pretty dead to me,” said Kira.

“I don't think Deaton would have sent us out here for nothing,” said Allison. “Maybe we should just look closer?”

“Yeah, you might be right,” said Stiles. “I'll check it out. After all, it was calling me.”

With a nod from Scott, Stiles approached the nemeton while the others remained at the outskirts of the clearing, carefully stepping around the broken and collapsed ground from when Jennifer had used its powers. As he got closer, Stiles felt a power emanating from the seemingly dead and decrepit stump. He felt drawn more and more to it. He finally reached the broken remains of the nemeton itself, standing almost on top of it. Before he knew what he was doing, Stiles pressed his right hand against the smooth surface of the ancient tree’s clean cut remnants.

The effect was immediate. Two vines sprang forth from the nemeton, wrapping around Stiles' hand and wrist. The spot where his hand touched the nemeton began to glow with a bright green light. The ground began to shake and Stiles heard Scott's voice shouting to him, but he couldn't make out what he was saying. Another voice filled Stiles' head. One that he had heard before in his dreams. The voice of the nemeton.

“You have found me. Contact has been made. The time has come for you to awaken and take your place alongside the true alpha. I will impart the wisdom of the world tree unto you.”

Stiles' eyes began to glow with the same bright green light that surrounded his hand on the nemeton's trunk. Vast amounts of knowledge, history, and facts streamed into his head, flying around in his mind. Stiles could see things, spells, events, people, and so much more in his mind. There was so much, but he was able to keep up and digest it even if it was a bit overwhelming. While this was happening, the stump of the nemeton began to grow upwards at an astonishing rate, branching outward as it went. The vines and Stiles' hand moved so that they were now touching the outer bark of the nemeton as it continued to grow. Stiles felt the rough bark running under his hand during this time. He could feel the energy flowing through the nemeton, through himself. He was in sync with the nemeton. After a few minutes, the nemeton stopped growing and the vines released Stiles' hand, receding back into the nemeton. The light faded from Stiles' eyes, returning them to their normal brown color, as he collapsed to his knees.

Scott was standing next to Stiles at the base of the nemeton a moment later. He reached out and gripped Stiles' right shoulder. When he did, there was a spark of green energy and a voice echoed in both of their heads.

“You are connected. World druid and true alpha. This symbol will show your bond and your bond with me.”

The spark traveled down Stiles' upper arm a bit before it began to encircle it, forming two lines. Stiles felt a burning sensation and cried out. He and Scott looked at his arm in time to see two black lines form on Stiles' right arm where the energy had just been. A series of runes flashed inside the lines before vanishing. When it had finished, it looked exactly like Scott's tattoo, except it was on Stiles' right arm instead of his left arm, a mirror image.

“What the hell?” exclaimed Stiles when he saw the tattoo.

“It looks exactly like mine,” said Scott.

“Yeah, I know, dude, but why is it there? How did it get there?”

“I don't know. There was a spark and then a voice and then that tattoo appeared.”

“There were some runes in it, but they vanished. They represent the world tree, the world druid, the true alpha, and a bond.”

“How do you know that?”

“When I touched the nemeton, all this knowledge sort of just flowed into me. I don't know how, but I know a lot of things now.”

“Just like Deaton said.”

“Yeah. I guess this was my awakening then.”

“Indeed it was,” said a deep, runic voice.

Scott and Stiles both jumped at the sound of the voice. Neither of them saw a source of the voice. Finally, they realized that it was inside their heads.

“I have awakened the power that lay dormant inside you,” continued the voice. “You as well as others have restored power to me over time; however, it was not until I was able to link with you, the world druid, that I was able to fully recover. Through you and your link to the world tree, I was able to gather enough power to restore myself to my former glory. For that, I thank you. My power is yours to command. And to protect.”

“Protect? Protect from what?” asked Stiles.

“I told you. They are coming. Anytime something of great power exists, other will seek to take it. They will come for me and if they succeed, Beacon Hills will fall.”

An image filled Stiles' and Scott's heads. Beacon Hills was on fire. The entire town was burning. Buildings lay in ruins and tattered, torn, and dismembered bodies littered the broken streets. Beacon Hills wouldn't just fall. It would be annihilated. A moment later, the image vanished from their minds.

“That... Can't be what happens,” Scott stammered.

“No, it isn't,” answered the voice. “It is only one of several possible outcomes. You and your pack will determine which path unfolds and not only the fate of Beacon Hills, but that of the world.”

“The world?” asked Stiles. “How would we change the fate of the whole world?”

“If my power falls into the wrong hands, or the right hands, depending on how you look at it, it is possible that it will bring about not only the destruction of Beacon Hills, but that of the world as well. Alternatively, my power could be used to seize power and control over the world's populations. Any number of things could happen really. Most terrible.”

“Then why don't you just not help them?” asked Scott.

“Ah, but I am a neutral party,” replied the voice. “In the end, I don't particularly care which way the time line unfolds. But I will lend my knowledge and power to the world druid. He is, after all, connected to the very thing that I represent.”

“The world tree?” asked Stiles.

“Yes. The origin and source of all druidic magic and life energy. You saw what Jennifer could do with just a fraction of my power. Now imagine what someone could do if they were to unleash my power at its maximum potential.”

Scott and Stiles looked at each other and shared a brief horrified expression. Jennifer had wreaked havoc and killed many people with just that small bit of power. If someone like her ever used the full power of the nemeton, it would definitely end like the nemeton had said.

“I see you've begun to fathom the calamity that would befall this world if that were to happen,” said the voice. “As I said before, they are coming. It won't be much longer. Return to your pack now and explain the situation to them. You will need to prepare. War is coming. It is inevitable. I wish you good luck.”

With that, the voice fell silent. Stiles could still feel the nemeton, but it was more like he was aware of it. Stiles also felt the energy coursing through the air, racing along the streams. He'd never noticed it before, but now he was aware of it. All because of his new found druid powers. Stiles closed his eyes and breathed deeply for a moment, taking in everything around him, before nodding at Scott. The two of them rejoined the rest of the pack where they began to explain what happened and what the nemeton had revealed to them.

 


	2. Family And Friends

"So that's the gist of it really," said Scott.

"Is no one else freaking out about the fact that a tree stump just grew into a giant tree?" asked Kira.

"Honestly, after everything we've seen and been through, that's pretty low on the shock scale," said Lydia.

"Yeah, I guess it is. This stuff is just new to me."

"Don't worry about it. It was still pretty surprising," said Lydia with a warm smile.

Kira smiled back, appreciative for the gesture.

"I'm more concerned about the warning of war," said Derek. "This could get really bad."

"Yeah," said Scott. "We told you what the nemeton said would happen, but you didn't see what we saw."

"It was intense and fifty kinds of terrible," Stiles chimed in.

"So what exactly are we going to do?" asked Allison. "You know my dad will help, too, and if things are as bad as the seem, we'll need his help."

"And we'll gladly welcome it," replied Scott. "We'll need all the help we can get."

"We still have a pretty big problem," said Isaac. "We don't know who our enemy is."

"Again with the not helping," said Stiles sarcastically.

Scott sighed, visibly tired of dealing with these two, and said, "Yes, we don't know who our enemy is, but we can still prepare. Everyone, be on the lookout for the enemy. Until we figure out who it is, we just go on like normal."

"In the meantime, you and Stiles should go talk to Deaton and see if he knows anything else," suggested Derek.

"You should come with us, too," said Scott. "We'll need your help. I am still new to this after all."

"Are you sure?" asked Derek with a mildly surprised expression on his face..

"Yes, we're sure," said Stiles. "What? Do you want us to make you a big neon billboard or something?"

Derek couldn't help but smile at Stiles' comment as he shook his head before he said, "No. I'll come with you. Thanks for having me along."

"We should all get going," said Allison. "I'll talk to my dad about this when I get home and see what he suggests and wants to do."

"Yeah, that sounds good," said Scott.

With that, the pack parted ways. Scott, Stiles, and Derek piled into Stiles' jeep and headed towards Deaton's clinic. Deaton smiled at them as they arrived.

"Ah, what a sight to see," he said.

"What do you mean?" asked Derek.

"The new leaders of Beacon Hills' reborn pack together. Scott, the true alpha, Stiles, the world druid, and Derek, the advisor and remaining Hale. This is how it was meant to be. You three will be excellent leaders, working together as one."

"You mean you knew this would happen?" asked Stiles.

"No. It's what I hoped for and believed would happen. But I do think someone knew and left you a little clue, wouldn't you say, Derek?"

Derek looked confused for a moment, but then a look of realization followed by a smile replaced it as he said, "Beacon Hills needs someone to protect it. That's what my mother told me in my vision."

"Indeed. Given she has a bit of unfair insight from the afterlife, but still, her point stands. But there is another reason why I think this was meant to be.”

“And why’s that?” asked Stiles.

“It has to do with your families,” answered Deaton. “Each of your families was tasked with a job in this town. The Hale family, tasked with watching over and protecting Beacon Hills from the supernatural. The Stilinski family, tasked with protecting the town from non-supernatural threats and keeping order. The McCall family, tasked with both healing and leading the people of Beacon Hills.”

“Leading?” asked Scott. “But no one in my family has been a real leader.”

“Oh? Haven’t they though?” asked Deaton with a smile. “Your mother is the head nurse at Beacon Memorial. She oversees everything and keeps that hospital together. It would fall apart without her leadership. She is also a healer and has saved many lives. Your father is a highly ranked and highly regarded special agent with the FBI who leads his own team. Not so much healing there, but he is a leader.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Scott. “That really does fit my family.”

“So you’re telling us that each of our families has been set up to do this for a long time?” asked Stiles.

“Yes, I am,” replied Deaton. “But I don’t know as much about it as others. They would also know more about the world druid and its appearance in Beacon Hills. They would also know extensively about the nemeton.”

“How would someone else know more about the nemeton than a druid?” asked Derek.

“Because they’re the historians of Beacon Hills,” said Deaton. “They are the observers, those who watch and record history while, largely, not affecting it themselves.”

“Who would that be then?” asked Scott.

“The Mahealani family,” answered Deaton matter-of-factly.

“DANNY?!” Scott and Stiles blurted out in surprised unison.

“Yes, your friend Danny is the youngest in the line,” said Deaton. “I would imagine he knows just about everything about the modern history of Beacon Hills. Probably more than that, too. That family makes sure that the knowledge is handed down properly.”

“Well, he did tell Ethan he knew about werewolves,” said Scott.

“I would advise you to go talk to him when you have the chance,” said Deaton. “But you may want to wait until later and to ask him privately. They may be the historians, but the Mahealani family usually doesn’t like to involve themselves in events that they will be recording later. But they may make an exception.”

“Alright. We’ll talk to him as soon as we can,” said Scott. “Is there anything else we should know?”

“Hmm,” mused Deaton. “The only other thing I can think of is that it might be a good idea to place some wards around the nemeton. It’s already a beacon, but with its powers fully restored, who knows what it will attract.”

“Yeah, well, I know a bunch of runes, seals, wards, and other magic stuff, but there’s still so much flying around in my head that I don’t really know what’s what,” said Stiles.

Deaton smiled softly at him like one would a new apprentice and said, “Don’t worry, Stiles. I can show you which ones to use. Place them and then go home and get some rest. You do have school in the morning.”

Stiles grumbled a bit at the reminder of school, but followed Deaton who removed an old book from a shelf in his office. He indicated several seals and wards that he thought would be useful for protecting the nemeton for now. Deaton then handed several jars containing various materials to Stiles, each labeled with the name of its contents.

“This should be enough to help get you started,” said Deaton as he finished handing the various jars to Stiles. “You already have the knowledge about what they are and what they do, so that makes my job a bit easier. In time, you’ll sort out everything on your own and even forge new ideas and uses for the knowledge you have. Every world druid does. I wonder what kind of world druid you’ll be.”

“Hopefully a good one,” said Stiles. “But thanks for the plants and stuff.”

“No problem. Good luck,” said Deaton.

The trio returned to the nemeton and watched as Stiles traced a circle of mountain ash around the nemeton. When he had finished, Stiles removed some of the other jars of material and used them to trace various seals into the circle. After he finished each seal, it would flash briefly and then become flat on the ground like the circle of mountain ash. Before long, Stiles had finished and he stood up to admire his handiwork.

“That should do it,” he said.

“Think it’ll hold?” asked Scott.

“Well, I used all the seals that Deaton recommended and the ring of mountain ash alone should act as a good barrier,” replied Stiles. “So, yeah, I think it’s a solid defense.”

“Good. Because we have no idea what’s coming for it,” said Derek.

“Hey, have a little faith in me, will you?” retorted Stiles, trying to sound hurt.

“No one doubts your new skills and powers, Stiles,” said Scott with a smile. “Derek’s just reminding us that we don’t know what’s coming.”

“Yeah, well, I put a ward in there, too. If anything does manage to cross the circle, I’ll know,” said Stiles.

“That’s awesome!” said Scott.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Did Deaton show you how to do that?” asked Derek.

“No, it just came to me,” answered Stiles. “I’m still sorting through everything the nemeton dumped into my head, but sometimes things just click like that did.”

“Good enough for me,” said Scott. “We should get going though. It’s starting to get late.”

Without further delay, the three of them departed the nemeton. Stiles dropped Derek at his loft and Scott at his house before returning home. Stiles quickly fell asleep as the information continued to swirl in his head. Hopefully, sleep would help organize everything.

The next morning, Scott and Stiles sat next to each other during homeroom like they did every morning. Stiles was glad his head felt a little clearer this morning. He had slept pretty well and his head wasn’t swimming with endless information anymore. The two were talking idly like they did most mornings. Stiles happened to glance at the clock and noticed that it was past the start of homeroom, but their teacher hadn’t started things yet.

“Hey, dude,” said Stiles. “Class started five minutes ago, but our teacher hasn’t started class yet.”

“Yeah, so?” asked Scott. “You act like that’s a bad thing.”

“No, it’s not bad. Just odd. He never starts class late.”

“Maybe he’s feeling lazy this morning?”

“I don’t think so. I feel like he’s waiting for-”

Stiles was cut short by the principal walking through the door to their classroom. The entire classroom fell silent in an instant.

“Everyone, I have a new student to introduce to you today,” said the principal. “He’s actually originally from Beacon Hills, but his family had to move for business. But now they’ve returned to let their son finish out his high school years in Beacon Hills. You can come in now.”

A tall, broad shouldered young man of muscular build strode confidently through the doorway. His dark blonde hair reflected some of the morning sunlight that was shining through the windows as he walked. He turned to face the class, scanning the classroom with his deep blue eyes until they fell upon Scott and Stiles. A small smile crept across his face as Scott and Stiles both realized who he was.

“This is Jayce Matherson. He’ll be joining you for the rest of the year,” continued the principal. “Please make him feel welcome. Welcome back to Beacon Hills, Jayce.”

With that, the principal left. Jayce nodded at the class and then took the empty seat behind Scott and Stiles.

“It’s been a long time,” whispered Jayce. “We should catch up after school.”

Before Scott and Stiles could reply, their teacher started class, clearly not happy that his class had been delayed. Scott and Stiles didn’t need to say anything though. They were both surprised. Happy, but still surprised. Jayce was an old friend of theirs. He’d been through a lot with them and the three had been quite close, but then his family had to move and they largely lost touch with each other. But catching up would have to wait until after school.

Finally, the school day came to a close. Scott and Stiles walked through the front double doors of the school to find Jayce waiting for them, leaning against a stone pillar. They approached him.

“Let’s go to the preserve,” Jayce suggested. “Like when we were all kids.”

“Um, the preserve?” stammered Stiles. “Are you sure that’s where you want to go?”

“Yeah, of course! Why not?” asked Jayce, giving Stiles a suspicious look.

“No reason! Just making sure,” answered Stiles, hoping he didn’t sound too obvious.

Scott and Stiles exchanged a nervous glance, but Jayce just smiled and said, “Great! Then let’s go.”

The three of them each took their own rides, Stiles in his Jeep, Scott on his bike, and Jayce in his car. It didn’t take them long to reach the preserve. Jayce charged right in, dragging Scott and Stiles behind him. Scott and Stiles were worried that he might stumble upon the nemeton, but he just lead them to a clearing where there was a pond. It was an area the three of them used to frequent as kids.

“Well, this brings back memories, huh?” said Jayce.

“Yeah, I haven’t been out here since before you left,” said Scott.

“I’d almost forgotten about this spot,” said Stiles.

“You two seemed so reluctant to come with me out here,” said Jayce. “Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s not that,” said Scott. “It’s just you kind of came out of nowhere.”

“Yeah. I guess the move back was pretty sudden. I apologize for that,” said Jayce.

“Well, why don’t you start by telling us what you’ve been up to these years,” suggested Scott.

“Sure,” Jayce replied. “We traveled around a bit, but finally my parents settled in China for a while. They were working at their company’s branch out there. It was actually pretty cool. I got to learn tai chi while I was there and, let me tell you, authentic Chinese food is amazing. After a few years, the company was so pleased with their work, they let them choose where they could go and promised it would be permanent if they wanted it to be. They decided to come back to Beacon Hills. They said they just felt drawn back here and I was happy to be coming back home. I may have left, but Beacon Hills is my home and it always will be.”

“That’s so cool!” said Scott. “I didn’t realize you were living abroad.”

“Yeah, it was pretty awesome,” said Jayce. “But what about you two? What’s happened since I’ve been gone? I won’t lie, there’s definitely something different about this place and about the two of you. I get the feeling a lot’s happened.”

“Nah, actually, life’s been pretty boring,” said Stiles, surprised at Jayce’s perceptiveness. “Just been playing lacrosse.”

“Oh, yeah! I remember reading BHS won state. Congrats, guys. Even if it’s a little late,” said Jayce. “But, really, nothing happened?”

“What’re you asking?” asked Scott with a quizzical look.

“Nothing,” said Jayce with a disarming smile. “I was just wondering what I’d missed. I have been gone for a few years after all.”

“Really about the most exciting thing you missed was Scott’s dad coming back to town,” said Stiles off-handedly.

“He’s back?” asked Jayce with surprise. “That was unexpected. I wonder why.”

“He wants to try and fix our relationship,” said Scott bluntly.

“I take it you’re not to keen on that,” replied Jayce.

“It’s complicated. I mean he-,” said Scott, stopping short as he heard something.

Stiles noticed Scott’s reaction and they both spun around, looking for the source of the sound. Suddenly, the trio saw what looked like wood that had been twisted into a humanesque form. Several of them scuttled towards the three of them, their root-like legs propelling them faster than any of them would have expected. Scott and Stiles shared a worried glance before Scott shouted, “Run!”

As soon as the words had left his mouth, vines shot from creatures, wrapping themselves around Scott’s wrists and ankles. Another set of creatures grabbed Stiles’ wrists and ankles.

“Scott, you’re going to have to do something!” shouted Stiles. “I kind of don’t have any of my stuff.”

“But-” started Scott.

“Scott, we don’t really have time to debate this!” interrupted Stiles as the creatures drug him to the ground, their vines digging into his flesh.

Scott was about to shift when something odd happened. A giant stream of water slammed into the creatures, knocking them sideways and causing their grips on Scott and Stiles to loosen. Scott and Stiles used that opportunity to break free and scramble to their feet. They looked back towards the pond where Jayce had been standing, trying to see where the blast of water had come from. Jayce stood near the pond with a ring of water encircling him. In one fluid motion, he stepped forward while making a  forward sweeping motion with his right arm. The ring of water quickly followed the direction of his movement, flowing behind Jayce’s back and then to the right of his arm. This sent another surge of water at the encroaching tree creatures. Jayce reached behind himself with both hands and then flung them towards his enemies, releasing two powerful torrents of water from the pond behind him. The creatures scrambled to dodge, but they were unable to avoid the full brunt of Jayce’s assault. They were sent flying out of the clearing and into the surrounding woods where they made a hasty retreat. Seeing that the creatures were gone, Jarce relaxed his stance and walked over to Scott and Stiles who were gawking at him.

“So, nothing’s been going on since I’ve been gone, huh?” said Jayce with a chuckle. “You have no idea why we were attacked by some wood imps?”

“Um… We…” Scott tried to stammer out.

“Scott, Stiles, I’m sorry for being a little underhanded,” said Jayce, taking a look at their wrists and ankles to assess their injuries. “But I wasn’t unaware of things that were happening here. Did you really think I’d just forget about my two best friends? Also, Scott, I can tell your injuries have already healed because Stiles’s wrists are bruised while yours are fine.”

“Maybe he just wasn’t grabbed as hard,” Stiles suggested quickly.

“Or perhaps he’s a werewolf,” said Jayce with a sly smile that basically said that he knew all along. “An alpha at that.”

“Werewolves? Alpha? What?” laughed Stiles. “That’s just crazy.”

“Stiles, we were just attacked by a small army of wood imps and I just made water move by waving my hands,” retorted Jayce. “I think we’re all aware of the supernatural world, wouldn’t you say?”

“If you knew, why didn’t you just tell us?” asked Scott.

“I wanted to see if you two would openly trust me with that information before I showed you what I am,” replied Jayce. “That being said, I understand why you wouldn’t want to.”

“Okay, but what exactly are you anyway?” asked Stiles.

“I’m what’s known as a waterbender,” answered Jayce. “It’s a rare ability, but basically I can use my chi to manipulate the water around me.”

“It looked like you were doing tai chi when you made that first attack though,” said Stiles.

“Yes,” said Jayce. “That’s because waterbending is rooted in tai chi. That’s what I was actually studying over in China. Anyway, water flows, much like the movements of tai chi. I use the movements to guide the water as it follows my chi. Water is also about balance, the push and pull of the tides. One of tai chi’s core philosophies is balance.”

“So you can manipulate water anywhere?” asked Scott.

“Well, free standing water is the easiest to manipulate because it’s just there. It’s visible and easily accessible. Skilled and powerful benders can find water almost anywhere though. You just have to think about it and then reach out for it,” Jayce replied. “Water can be found in some places you might not ever think of or that you may just forget about.”

“That’s so cool,” said Scott with a big smile on his face.

“Waterbending is not without its dangers though,” continued Jayce. “A waterbender must always maintain balance within himself. There is a constant push and pull, a battle between normalcy and dark impulses. For most, this is never really an issue. But, much like werewolves, we draw our power from the moon. During a full moon, we’re at our most powerful, but also at the greatest risk of losing control.”

“That sounds like me when I was first learning to control my shift during a full moon,” said Scott.

“Yes, it’s very similar,” said Jayce. “That heightened power also ramps up the struggle for balance. If that battle was lost, well, the results would be very similar to what happens when a werewolf loses control during a full moon.”

“You become a violent, blood-thirsty killing machine?” asked Stiles.

“More or less, yes,” replied Jayce. “We stay a bit more human than that, but we definitely fall into dark impulses. Once that happens, it’s very hard if not impossible for us to regain control on our own. Someone would have to pull us back.”

“Like an anchor,” said Scott.

“Exactly like an anchor,” said Jayce. “But I think that explains what I am more or less. The real question is what exactly have the two of you gotten yourselves into this time? I know some of what’s happened and what’s going on, but not all of it. Could you two catch me up?”

Scott and Stiles wasted no time telling Jayce what had happened and what was coming. It actually felt natural and really good to be confiding in their old friend again. They were glad he would be there to help them in the coming fight. Jayce listened calmly to the entire story, taking it all in. Stiles knew that look. He was calculating, determining the best course of action. Jayce had always been great at chess and other strategy games. When they finished, Jayce remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.

“If what you say is true and war is coming to Beacon Hills, then those imps were likely foot soldiers sent by the enemy,” said Jayce. “Also, the fact that they are after the nemeton confirms what I felt. Several months back, I felt a shift in the energies of the world. I felt called back to Beacon Hills inexplicably.”

“Wait, I thought you said your parents felt called,” said Scott.

“No, it was me,” Jayce continued. “My parents are aware of my abilities and knew that if I sensed something, it was important. They used their influence in their company to get transferred back to Beacon Hills. It took some time, but I think I’ve returned at the exact moment I needed to be.”

“We’ll definitely need your help,” said Scott.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help. Beacon Hills is my home, too,” said Jayce.

“It’s starting to get a little late,” said Stiles. “We can introduce him to everyone tomorrow and let everyone know what happened today.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll let everyone know to meet up after school tomorrow,” said Scott.

“You really do make a good alpha,” said Jayce with a smile.

“Why do you say that?” asked Scott with a surprised look and his face because Jayce couldn’t have seen his skills as an alpha yet.

“Just a feeling,” Jayce replied. “You and Stiles working together. I don’t think anything could stop that. Well, let’s get going. The last thing we want is for more wood imps to attack us in the dark.”

The three of them nodded at each other and then followed Jayce back to their vehicles. With a quick farewell, they parted ways and headed home.

* * *

 The waterlogged wood imps returned to their master’s dwelling. The tall brunette turned on her heel to face them, her shoulder length hair waved as she did so. She did not look happy.

“I see you’ve failed me,” she said as the imps made some rather desperate sounding noises. “I won’t tolerate failure. You know the consequences.”

Without so much as a hesitation, she threw a powder on the imps. They immediately burst into flames, screeching as they burnt to ashes. The light from their tiny fires danced across the woman’s immaculate face as her eyes flashed an icy blue.

“I guess I’ll just have to make stronger minions,” said the woman. “My druid powers seem to have diminished, but these new werewolf powers are a plus. The best of both worlds. Druid and werewolf in one. I guess that bastard, Peter, did something right for once. Now, time to take back the nemeton.”

The woman spun around and walked away, leaving the smoldering ashes of her former minions behind her. Jennifer Blake was back.


	3. The Prophecy

 

The next day, the pack gathered after school ended. They went to Derek’s loft as it had the most space for everyone. Once everyone had assembled, Scott began the introductions.

“Everyone, this is Jayce Matherson,” said Scott. “He’s an old friend of mine and Stiles. He’s here to help us.”

“And how is he going to do that?” asked Isaac. “Better yet, how does he even know about us?”

“He’s been aware of the supernatural for a while,” answered Scott. “He knew I was a werewolf before he even came back. As for how he can help us, well, he’s got a pretty unique talent.”

“What’s that? Being unusually well-informed?” Isaac suggested sarcastically.

“It might be easier if I just show them,” said Jayce.

Scott nodded and Jayce reached into his backpack, removing a large bottle of water. Jayce unscrewed the top of the bottle and placed it on the ground. He gently raised his right arm, pulling the water from the bottle as he did so. Settling into a basic stance, Jayce began to move his arms fluidly, guiding the water in a flowing pattern around himself; it was a basic waterbending form.

“So he can make water move around a bit,” said Isaac, sounding unimpressed. “That looks cool but how is that going to help us?”

Without any hesitation, Jayce stepped towards Isaac with his right foot, his right arm shooting forward in a sharp, fast motion. The water followed his guidance, forming a whip of water that snapped Isaac on his chest before quickly returning to Jayce. Isaac let out a yelp of pain. Still not missing a beat, Jayce threw his hands in the air, causing the water to fly upward and begin to break into groups of water. He then dropped his outstretched arms to shoulder height, facing away from him, as he drew his stance into a more relaxed standing position. The water around him froze into multiple daggers of ice. Jayce flung his arms forward and the glistening ice shards flew towards Isaac. The panic was apparent on everyone’s faces including Scott and Stiles who definitely hadn’t expected such a demonstration from Jayce. The daggers stopped just short of touching Isaac who was staring cross-eyed at the one that was almost touching his nose. With one fluid motion, Jayce pulled the ice shards back to him, returned them to their liquid state, and rebottled them.

“I think that should suffice as a demonstration, wouldn’t you say?” said Jayce with a smug smirk.

“Dude, that was a little much,” said Scott.

“He wanted to see its application to combat, so I showed him,” replied Jayce simply.

“Still…” said Scott, trailing off.

“That’ll definitely come in handy,” said Isaac, shaking off his shock. “What do they call you exactly?”

“I’m a waterbender. But, really, I’m sorry for the… roughness of my demonstration,” said Jayce with a small bow of his head towards Isaac. “I just wanted to show you how my skills can be used in combat.”

“Yeah, I get it now,” replied Isaac.

“I look forward to getting to know everyone,” said Jayce. “I know I’m new to everyone except Scott and Stiles, but I really do want to help you. Beacon Hills is my home and I’ll do anything to protect it.”

“That’s good to know,” said Derek. “We’ll definitely need your help.”

“Speaking of help,” said Stiles. “Did you talk to your dad, Allison?”

“Yeah, I did,” replied Allison. “He said he’ll lend us his full arsenal. He’s a bit worried about me after the battle with the oni, but he knows he can’t stop me.”

“I don’t blame him,” said Lydia. “You nearly died.”

“But I survived,” retorted Allison. “I won’t die so easily and he knows that now. And I still stand by my code. I always will.”

“I’m glad we can count on your family’s help,” said Scott with a warm smile.

“Scott, I remember you said something happened yesterday while you three were at the preserve,” said Derek. “What was it?”

“We were attacked,” answered Scott.

“By who?” asked Kira.

“By some kind of moving tree creature things,” said Stiles.

“Wood imps,” said Jayce. “They were a kind of wood imp. A familiar, summoning, or construct. I’m not quite sure which.”

“Who would be able to use something like that?” asked Allison.

“Well,” said said Stiles, clearly thinking deeply. “It is possible that a druid could summon or create a wood imp. I know it’s possible. I just don’t know how. I’m still sorting through everything the nemeton dumped in my head.”

“It’s alright, Stiles,” said Scott, placing his hand comfortingly on Stiles’ shoulder. “That’s more than enough.”

“So we’re dealing with some kind of druid then?” asked Lydia. “Another durach?”

“Maybe. I mean, if they’re after the nemeton, they’re not exactly good,” said Stiles.

“Either way, we’ll have to wait for the enemy to make themselves appear again,” said Jayce. “But we know they’re here already. We’ll have to be wary.”

“That means we don’t have much time before things start to heat up,” said Derek. “We should talk to Danny soon.”

“We might be able to now,” said Stiles. “I can text him.”

“Do it,” said Scott. “But if we go, I think it’d be best if you, me, Derek, and Jayce go. We don’t want to overwhelm them.”

“Are you sure we should bring him along?” asked Derek.

“We can trust him,” said Scott.

Derek simply nodded as Stiles sent a text to Danny. A few moments later, Stiles received his reply.

“He said we can come over,” said Stiles.

“That was surprisingly easy,” said Derek.

“Well I did tell him Scott and I wanted to talk to him about the upcoming lacrosse season,” said Stiles.

“So you lied,” said Derek.

“Well, not completely,” said Stiles. “I mean, as co-captains, we do need to check in on our star players.”

“Does anyone ever actually believe your lies?” asked Derek.

“Just shut it and let’s get going,” replied Stiles incredulously.

Without further delay, the four of them departed for Danny’s house while the rest of the pack waited back at the loft. It didn’t take long to reach Danny’s house. Scott went to knock on the door but stopped short at the door opened and a woman greeted them, Danny’s mother.

“Welcome,” said Mrs. Mahealani. “Danny’s been expecting you. You’ll find him in our study.”

She welcomed them in and gestured in the direction of the study. They entered the study to find that it looked more like a small library than an actual study. Bookshelves filled with books of varying ages lined the walls of the well lit room. There were several desks and chairs placed throughout the room. Danny sat at the table farthest from them with a large book open in front of him. The four approached him. When they had reached his table, he looked up at the with a sly smile.

“Have a seat,” said Danny. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“So we were told,” said Stiles.

“I see you brought your cousin, Miguel, with you,” said Danny.

“I.. Uh… He..” stammered Stiles while trying to avoid Derek’ death glares.

“Relax, Stiles,” said Danny. “I’m kidding. I know that’s Derek Hale.”

“Right. I kind of forgot you’ve known all along,” said Stiles.

“It’s my family’s job,” said Danny, smiling. “We keep the records of Beacon Hills. But you already knew that.”

“You said you were expecting us,” said Derek. “Why?”

“Because of Stiles’ awakening, the reactivation of the nemeton, and the inevitable war that’s coming,” said Danny as if it was nothing. “Honestly, we expected you would come to us sooner. But I guess predicting the future isn’t as exact as recording the past.”

“So you’ll help us then?” asked Scott.

“I didn’t say that,” replied Danny. “We usually stay out of history’s events. It lets us record with an unbiased view. But you’ve brought something interesting with you. A waterbender. There hasn’t been one in Beacon Hills in a very long time.”

“You know what I am?” asked Jayce in surprise.

“Of course,” answered Danny. “We were a bit surprised when you returned to Beacon Hills though. Did you feel the call of the nemeton?”

“I felt a call to return to Beacon Hills, yes,” said Jayce.

“Interesting,” said Danny. “Well, you came here for a reason. How can I help you?”

“Deaton said you would know more about what’s going on and about the world druid,” said Scott. “What can you tell us?”

“Hmm. Where to begin?” asked Danny rhetorically. “I’m sure Deaton told you about your families already.”

“He did,” said Derek.

“Did he tell you about the prophecy?” asked Danny.

“What prophecy?” asked Stiles.

“I’ll take that as a no,” said Danny as he began to flip through the book in front of him until he stopped on a page near the front of the book. “Long ago, when Beacon Hills was first being formed, a prophecy was made. It predicted the prosperity of the town  and the rise of the Hale, McCall, and Stilinski families in their respective roles. But as you can see here, the prophecy shows the families working autonomously and separately.”

Danny gestured to the picture that bore the emblems of each family. They were separated by a faint line an encapsulated by a circle. Danny turned the page to reveal one with the family emblems split into two. They were still separated by the faint lines.

“It also foretold the breaking of each of the families. Each family would suffer a great loss and be weakened because of it. This became the Hale house fire, the death of Claudia Stilinski, and the divorce of Mr. and Mrs. McCall. The destruction of the nemeton was mentioned as well,” continued Danny.

“Really not liking this prophecy,” said Stiles.

Danny ignored him and turned the page. This picture showed the three families’ broken emblems overlaying each other, their broken pieces fitting together to form a perfect whole.

“The children of these broken family lines would find each other, their fates intertwined, and forge a new group. This new group would be necessary for what is to come,” said Danny as he turned the page to reveal what looked like a drawing of Stiles, Scott, and Derek standing next to the nemeton. “The son of the McCall family will rise to his calling as a true alpha, forming a new pack to protect Beacon Hills. The last son of the Hale family will teach the true alpha how to be a werewolf. The son of the non-magical Stilinski family will awaken as the true alpha’s emissary, the world druid. This will signal the oncoming war.”

Danny turned the page once more to reveal a page of text, but the text was in a language that none of them recognized. Danny read it without any problem.

“When this has come to pass, the children of the Hale, McCall, and Stilinski families will lead their pack into battle,” read Danny. “The forces of darkness will come for the nemeton, seeking to use it for their own ends. If they succeed, great calamity shall befall Beacon Hills and the rest of the world.”

“That’s it?” asked Stiles. “That’s all it says?”

“Sorry,” replied Danny. “It doesn’t say what the outcome will be. That’s up to all of you. My family will record the outcome, whatever it may be.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” asked Scott.

“I can tell you that a world druid and a true alpha don’t just appear randomly,” said Danny. “You both have so much power and potential. Your fates have been intertwined with Derek’s for a reason. The future isn’t as set in stone as people might think. You will make history. I’ve known both of you for years. I’m pretty sure you’ll do fine.”

“Thanks, Danny,” said Scott with a smile.

“Is there anything you can say about me?” asked Jayce.

Danny looked at Jayce and said, “You’re a waterbender. You aim to maintain balance, something very similar to the druids. You can use your powers to both harm and heal. The only thing I can really tell you is to be careful.”

Danny flipped to a page near the back of his book. The page showed a waterbender gracefully bending water around him with a yin yang symbol at the top of the page. He then turned the page to reveal a rather horrific image. It was the same waterbender, but the lines that made him up were now jagged and distorted and his face expressed an overt madness. Water and red swirled around the bender and a solid black circle sat at the top of the page.

“Remember,” said Danny. “A waterbender must always maintain balance within himself. It’s easy to lose control. Once you do, the results can be terrible. That’s really all I can tell you.”

“I know,” said Jayce with a serious tone. “I will be. I promise.”

Danny nodded at him and closed the book as he said, “All of you should be careful. This will probably be the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done. Remember that things might not always be what they appear. Victory can be turned to defeat in an instant. The reverse can also be true.”

“We will be, Danny,” said Scott with a determined look on his face. “We’ll protect Beacon Hills.”

“I look forward to recording your history,” sad Danny with a sincere smile. “Good luck, guys. Let me know if there’s something else I can help you with.”

The four of them nodded at Danny and left to regroup with the pack and tell them what they had learned.

 


	4. Shots Fired

Scott, Stiles, Derek, and Jayce returned to the loft and relayed what they had learned from Danny to the rest of the pack.

“So it’s true then,” said Allison. “War really is coming.”

“Yeah and it’s up to all of us to stop it,” said Stiles.

“They didn’t say anything about how to win this or who our enemy is?” asked Isaac.

“No,” answered Scott.

“Then what good was going to see him?” asked Isaac.

“We learned that there is something special about us. Not just Scott, Stiles, and me either. All of us,” said Derek. “We are a pack. We were all brought together for a reason and each of us has a unique talent. We have to stand and fight.”

“Derek’s right,” said Scott. “We don’t know who the enemy is yet or where and when they’ll strike next, but we can be ready. We’ll piece together what we know and find our enemy. When we do, we’ll take them down. We will protect Beacon Hills. We can do this.”

The pack smiled and nodded confidently at Scott before Scott continued, “We’ll go to the preserve after school tomorrow. We’ll look for signs of our enemy. Maybe we can figure out who or where they are.”

“That sounds good,” said Allison. “I’ll bring my gear.”

“Good. Everyone should come armed,” said Derek. “The last thing we want is to be caught off guard in a fight.”

“What about me?” asked Lydia. “I don’t have claws, weapons, or magic.”

“But you do have your voice,” answered Stiles. “Your scream can stun just about any living thing.  You’ve also got my druid powers and Allison’s bow. You’ll be fine.”

Lydia smiled warmly and said, “That’s true. I’ll be fine. I can handle myself anyway.”

“We should all get some rest,” said Jayce. “We don’t want to be tired tomorrow if we’re going to spend the day searching and possibly fighting.”

“Definitely,” said Scott. “Let’s go for now. We have a long day tomorrow.”

With that, the pack parted ways for the night.

The next day, the pack met at the preserve after school. Allison had brought her favorite bow and quiver, filled with various types of arrows, as well as a set of Chinese ring daggers, one clasped on each hip. Jayce had a full water backpack pulled taut against his back so that it wouldn’t inhibit his movement. Everyone was surprised when they saw Stiles. He was wearing a wide black belt with numerous pouches running along it. Stiles pulled his bat out from his jeep, brandishing it for a moment. As he did, the afternoon light caught the carvings on the bat. The bat was covered in runes that Stiles had carved the previous night.

“What’s with the belt and bat?” asked Isaac, cocking an eyebrow at Stiles.

“I put all my materials in these pouches so I can use them easily in a fight,” replied Stiles. “And I put some runes on my bat to make it stronger. I’m not that strong physically, so I figured some magical help would be a good idea.”

“That sounds like a good idea, man,” said Scott. “You can make runes and stuff that boost strength?”

“Yeah. I can make runes, seals, and other stuff to boost a lot of things,” answered Stiles. “Hopefully we won’t need a demonstration though.”

“But we might,” said Derek. “It’s good to know you’re ready.”

Stiles nodded at Derek and said, “We should get going.”

Without further delay, they set off into the woods. To cover more area, they spread out some from each other, but stayed close enough to stay in sight so that if anything happened, they could regroup easily. Hours passed uneventfully as they weaved through the trees and underbrush of the preserve. Night was starting to fall and they had become more spread out, having accepted the idea that nothing was going to happen.

Suddenly, the sound of arrows whizzing by filled the air followed by bright explosions of light which blinded the werewolves and the humans. Allison had already closed her eyes at the first sound of the arrows, expecting the flash bombs. She spun in the direction of the noise, readying her bow as she did. When she opened her eyes, she saw her target and let loose her first arrow. It found its mark in the leg of her enemy as a cry of pain echoed throughout the forest. It was human.

Scott, Derek, and Isaac were all blinded by the arrows, each letting out a howl of surprise as they shifted in reaction to the explosion. Stiles dropped to a knee, reaching into two of his pouches quickly before placing his hands on the ground as he lowered himself. Two seals formed on the ground around his hands, flashing with a green light as the words flowed into his mind.

“Servants of nature, heed my call and come to my aid!” shouted Stiles.

Immediately, six wood imps sprang forth from the ground near Stiles’ hands. They rushed towards the archers who had fired upon them, launching their vines at them.

Kira’s eyes flashed a burning orange as she drew her katana. In an instant, she was in front of the three werewolves, ready to guard them until they had recovered. Lydia took her place next to Allison whom she happened to be closest to at the time. She had no weapon, but she was ready to scream if the need arrised.

Stiles’ wood imps and Allison’s relentless volley of arrows provided a perfect cover for the werewolves to recover. Scott let out a howl and the werewolves and Kira charged the archers, hoping to remove their long range advantage. Stiles’ wood imps had ensnared three of the assailants, inhibiting their movement, and Allison’s arrows had buried themselves into the legs of two others. Stiles brandished his bat and ran to join the melee with Scott and the others.

Allison heard an arrow flying and turned to see one flying at her face only to be stopped by a blast of water. Jayce quickly redirected the water from deflecting the arrow to attack the last remaining archer wasting no energy and maintaining his flowing movement. The attack knocked the archer backwards. Jayce snapped the archer’s hand with his water whip, disarming him, before he hit him with once more with a surge, knocking him into a tree where he collapsed.

“Thanks,” said Allison, quickly regaining her composure and drawing her bow again.

“Don’t mention it,” replied Jayce as he pulled his water back to him, ready to be used again in another attack.

Scott and Isaac were busy fighting one of the three unbound archers while Derek and Kira handled another. Stiles charged the last remaining one, swinging his bat with all his might. The archer used his bow to block the bat. The weapons connected with a loud clang, but the bow held. The archer smirked at Stiles, but he was surprised when Stiles gave him his own mischievous smirk. The runes on his bat began to glow red as Stiles drew his bat back to strike again. When the weapons collided this time, the bow shattered and the bat continued to connect with shoulder of the archer, knocking him to the ground. His opponent taken care of, Stiles ran to support Scott.

Scott and Isaac were having a particularly tough time with this archer. He seemed to have experience with fighting multiple opponents at once as he easily kept pace with Scott and Isaac’s combined attacks. He also had twin daggers that he was using in place of his bow to fight. He was prepared. As Isaac lunged forward to attack the archer, Stiles reached them. He thrust his hand in one of his pockets and then pressed his hand into Scott’s back. A red seal formed beneath his hand for a moment before vanishing. Scott felt a surge of power rush through him, increasing his physical strength beyond what it already was.

“Go!” shouted Stiles.

Scott wasted no time and ran towards the archer just as Isaac was moving out of the way. Scott’s punch connected with the enemy’s shoulder. The force of the attack knocked his opponent off balance. Scott immediately followed it up with a punch to the man’s chest which sent him stumbling back as he dropped his daggers. Isaac bum rushed their enemy into a nearby tree where he finally collapsed with an oomph.

Kira swung her sword at the archer before her, coming upward at a diagonal. The archer blocked with his crossbow, but the angle left him exposed and off balance. Derek used the chance to slam his fist into the man’s face. The archer crumpled immediately.

With all of their assailants subdued, the pack drug them into one spot and Stiles’ wood imps bound them with their vines. Jayce doused them with several splashes of water to rouse them. As the archers woke, Derek grabbed the first one and leaned in close to his face.

“Who sent you?” he asked forcefully.

“Like we’d tell some rabid dog,” responded the archer.

Derek grabbed the front of the man’s shirt, pulling him closer, fangs bared and his eyes turned blue.

“I said who sent you?!” he roared.

The archer smirked at Derek. For half a second, Derek was confused, but then he heard the whizzing of arrows and the tumbling of grenades. Fire and smoke erupted in front of and around Derek. He jumped back with a roar of surprise. The wood imps screamed as they were consumed by the flames. Smoke filled the area, blinding and choking everyone. Everyone coughed and covered their noses and mouths with their hands as they tried to get out of the smoke. Derek heard them though. The rustling of the leaves and the footsteps as their assailants and their friends ran away. Jayce doused the fires with his water and the smoke cleared quickly, but the archers and whoever had helped them escape were long gone. The smoking, charred remnants of the wood imps lay before them with scorched arrows in their midst.

“Incendiary charges,” said Allison as she examined the arrows. “They ignite on contact.”

“And they used smoke grenades to cover themselves,” said Derek, gesturing toward the empty silver canisters.

“They got away before we could get anything from them,” said Stiles.

“This doesn’t make sense though,” said Allison.

“What doesn’t?” asked Scott.

“These are hunters tools,” continued Allison. “The same ones my family uses. Their users were human.”

“Why doesn’t that make sense?” asked Kira.

“Because we were attacked by wood imps in the woods the other day,” said Stiles as he caught on to what Allison was getting at.

“Exactly,” said Allison. “And you said a druid could summon wood imps like we saw you do in this fight.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” agreed Stiles.

“So what does that mean exactly?” asked Isaac.

“It means one of two things,” said Lydia. “Either we’re dealing with a druid or durach who also happens to employ mercenaries or we’re dealing with two enemies.”

The pack stared at her in stunned silence as the truth of her word set in. Two enemies. There were two enemies and they had no idea who either of them were.

 


	5. Preparations

“Two enemies?” asked Isaac. “So two people are after the nemeton?”

“It would seem that way,” said Jayce. “One druid and one human, possibly hunter.”

“They’re definitely hunters,” said Allison. “I don’t know anyone else who uses these kinds of weapons.”

“Let’s think for a minute,” said Lydia. “Who could it possibly be?”

“Well, we never saw Jennifer again after she ran away that night,” said Scott. “Think it could be her.”

“Actually,” said Derek with a grimace. “Peter said he slashed her throat later that same night. I know she was powerful, but I don’t think she can undo death.”

“Typical,” said Lydia. “He killed someone else.”

Derek pretended to ignore Lydia’s comment and said, “I think it’s safe to rule her out.”

“Ok, so the only other druids we know are Ms. Morrell and Deaton,” said Scott. “I don’t think either of them would go down this path.”

“Ms. Morrell was helping the alpha pack,” said Allison. “I don’t think I’d put it past her.”

“Yeah, but she’s all about maintaining the balance,” said Stiles. “At any cost. She wouldn’t do something to tip the scales one way or the other.”

“Then who else could it be?” asked Kira.

“Maybe there’s a new druid,” suggested Jayce. “What if they knew the nemeton was back to full power and they wanted it for themselves?”

“Yeah, that could be it,” said Scott. “I guess we’ll have to find out more about that. But what about the hunters? Who could they be?”

“Well, Gerard certainly comes to mind,” said Stiles distastefully.

“Gerard’s been bedridden and is pretty much incapable of doing anything else besides spitting up black blood,” retorted Allison. “I’m not defending him, but I just don’t see how he could do it.”

“Knowing Gerard, he’d probably find a way,” said Derek. “But your point stands. He seems unlikely. So, who else is there?”

“I don’t know,” said Allison. “Another section of my family? Another group of hunters?”

“There’s something else that’s really odd here that none of you are getting,” interjected Lydia.

“What’s that?” asked Scott.

“Why would a bunch of human hunters, those who are supposed to hunt the supernatural, try and take control of a powerful supernatural object?” proposed Lydia.

“That’s actually a really good point,” said Stiles.

“Maybe they want to destroy it,” suggested Jayce.

“That’s a lot of work just to destroy it,” said Kira.

“Peter and I had a run-in with another family of hunters,” added Derek. “They were Mexican I think.”

“Another hunter family?” asked Stiles. “Seriously? How many are there?”

“We just don’t know enough right now, guys,” said Scott. “We’ll have to wait for the enemy to reveal themselves. Stiles put a bunch of protective stuff around the nemeton, so I don’t think we have to worry.”

“What if they come after us while we’re separated?” asked Isaac.

“Then you howl. Or scream or shout or call. Anything. One of us will hear you,” replied Scott. “We’re a pack. We look out for each other.”

“What about him?” asked Isaac, pointing at Jayce.

“He’s an old friend and he’s proved himself out here with us,” said Scott. “I trust him.”

“Same here,” said Stiles. “I’ll vouch for him, too.”

Isaac just nodded in acceptance.

“Thanks, guys,” said Jayce as a smile spread across his face, happy that his old friends still trusted him. “Like I said, I’ll do everything I can to protect each of you and Beacon Hills.”

“It’s getting late,” said Derek. “We should rest and regroup tomorrow.”

“It’s the weekend, so it’d be an ideal time to sort through things,” said Jayce.

“Yeah, just have to make it through Friday’s classes,” said Stiles.

“It won’t be that bad,” said Jayce. “Anyway, let’s get going.”

With that, the pack parted ways for the night.

Stiles was flying. He was soaring over the trees of the preserve. He looked down at the trees rushing by below him and felt the cool night air rushing past his face. He was dreaming. He had to be. But it all felt so real. Suddenly, he stopped. Stiles found himself hovering over a large clearing. It was the nemeton’s clearing. Stiles floated downward toward the nemeton. That was when he notice the two figures standing on opposite sides of the clearing. It was dark, so he couldn’t make out who they were, but one appeared to be a woman and the other looked like a man. They approached the edge of Stiles’ protective circle.

“I must say, I never expected you to come after the nemeton,” said the woman. “Aren’t you a bit old for this sort of thing?”

“Now, now. You’re one to talk, aren’t you?” said the man. “What is this? Twice you’ve escaped death?”

“Guess I’m just lucky like that,” she replied. “But what about you, old man?”

“Oh, I’ve sidestepped death, but I assure you this life isn’t all that pleasant,” said the man.

“No, I imagine it’s not,” said the woman. “But only one of us can control the nemeton.”

“Indeed,” said the man. “And I assure you I have no qualms about fighting a woman.”

“Good. Because I have no qualms about fighting an old man,” she replied.

“We’ll see who has the better backing and the better strategy,” challenged the man.

“I’m willing to bet I have the better of both,” she said confidently.

“This barrier that boy put up is a bit of a problem,” said the man.

“It’s surprisingly well made,” said the woman. “I guess that’s what happens when a world druid awakens.”

“Let’s try to break it,” suggested the man.

“I doubt it’ll work,” said the woman. “And even if it did, why would I help you? Besides, he’d know who we are and that we were here if we did. He put wards into the circle.”

“You’re telling me you’re worried if some teenage boy knows who you are?” asked the man disparagingly.

“That’s not it!” shouted the woman, clearly offended.

“Then let’s do it,” said the man.

“Fine,” said the woman. “I’ll take it from you if we succeed though.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt you’ll try,” said the man with a laugh.

The two of them moved closer to the protective circle until the were on top of it. At the same time, they pressed against the invisible barrier. The area erupted in light as the runes and seals that Stiles had built into the circle activated, including his ward. It bathed the the entire area in light, clearly illuminating the faces of the two figures. Stiles’ eyes grew wide as he realized who they were. Jennifer Blake and Gerard Argent. A moment later, the two were sent flying back from the circle as it repelled them and the light vanished. Stiles felt himself being forcefully yanked backwards.

Stiles sat up quickly, waking from his slumber. He was breathing heavily and drenched in a cold sweat. On the upside, his wards and protective circle worked. On the downside, two of their most powerful enemies were back and they were both trying to take the nemeton. Stiles decided to text Scott about what he’d learned. They’d discuss it tomorrow at school with everyone, but he wanted Scott to have a heads up.

Everyone, minus Derek, grabbed a table together at lunch. Scott had already told them that Stiles had seen something last night.

“So what did you see?” asked Lydia.

“I saw Jennifer and Gerard at the nemeton,” said Stiles.

“Jennifer? But how?” asked Kira. “I thought that she had her throat ripped out.”

“My dad said it’s sometimes possible for someone to turn from a scratch if it’s deep enough,” said Allison. “Maybe that’s what happened. Maybe she was turned by Peter instead.”

“If that’s true, then she’s got the powers of both a druid and a werewolf,” said Jayce.

“That can’t be a good combination,” Isaac chimed in.

“I’m also worried about Gerard being back,” said Allison. “He has plenty of resources and people at his disposal and we know he’s a brilliant strategist.”

“But he’s also weak right now,” said Scott.

“I bet that’s why he’s after the nemeton,” said Jayce. “He could fix whatever’s wrong with his body.”

“Let’s not forget that it would also give him next to unlimited power to wreak havoc with,” added Stiles. “Y’know, in case any of you forgot what a psychopath the guy is.”

“So it’s a win-win for him,” said Isaac.

“I bet Jennifer is after the nemeton for the power, too,” said Scott. “She wasn’t exactly happy when it was ripped from her.”

“So what’re we going to do?” asked Kira.

“Lunch is almost over. We should wait until after school so we can fill Derek in on what happened,” said Scott.

“No need,” said Stiles as he pointed out the window.

Scott and the others turned to see Derek who simply nodded, climbed back into his car, and drove away. The bell rang almost immediately after, so they all went on to their next classes. After school, they met up at Derek’s loft.

“So, now that we’re all here, what do we do next?” asked Kira

“We need a battle plan,” said Jayce.

“We have no idea where Gerard and Jennifer are,” said Derek. “How do we go after an enemy when we don’t know where they are?”

“We might not have to find them,” said Stiles. “They’ll come for us. They want the nemeton, but they can’t break through the barriers I set up. They’ll have to take me down or get me to break it if that’s the case.”

“Both Gerard and Jennifer were all about using leverage to get their ways,” said Lydia. “Who’s to say they won’t do it again?”

“What do you mean?” asked Scott.

“I think she means that they’re going to go after what’s important to you,” answered Jayce. “Your parents might be in danger, especially if this escalates to all out war. Who knows what will happen to Beacon Hills if that happens.”

“We should tell our parents what’s going on,” said Allison. “My dad is already aware of the situation, but what about the sheriff and your mom, Scott?”

“My mom doesn’t know,” replied Scott.

“Neither does my dad,” said Stiles.

“You should tell them when you get home tonight,” said Jayce. “We don’t want them to be caught off guard.”

“Yeah,” said Scott, a sad expression falling upon his face for a moment at the thought of his mother being caught up in this again, but it quickly passed. “But for now we need a plan.”

“They’ll come for us soon,” said Derek. “I doubt they’ll try to take us on all at once seeing as we were able to defeat them before.”

“Gerard knows us,” said Allison. “He knows we’re stronger together. He’ll try to take us out when we’re alone.”

“Jennifer will probably do the same,” said Derek. “She was an emissary for years, so she knows how a pack works together. She wouldn’t try to take us all on at once.”

“But she does have her druid powers and her werewolf powers,” said Stiles. “She could probably come after us with more force and be more successful.”

“It’s a question of will she though,” said Lydia.

“We don’t know for sure,” said Jayce. “In my experience, I’ve found it’s best to plan for all eventualities. So, let’s make plans for both scenarios. What do we do if we are alone and attacked? What do we do if we’re all together and are attacked by a large force?”

“Like we said at lunch, if one of us is attacked alone, call, scream, howl, do something. One of us will hear it,” said Scott. “If we’re all together, that makes things a bit easier actually. We know how to fight as a group.”

“You guys all know how to fight together, that’s true,” said Jayce. “But I’m new. You don’t know how I fight quite yet.”

“The same goes for me,” said Stiles. “I’ve never actually fought with you before.”

“You seemed to do fine when we were fighting,” said Scott with a smile.

“Yeah, well, we’re best friends, Scott,” replied Stiles. “Have been for years. Of course we’d flow with each other.”

“Jayce seemed to work well with me,” said Allison. “He blocked an arrow from hitting me and took out an enemy on his own.”

“True, but I think it might be a good idea if we fight together or spar against each other,” said Jayce. “We won’t go all out of course because we aren’t trying to hurt each other, but I think it’d be beneficial. You can learn a lot about someone by fighting with them or against them.”

“There’s plenty of open space here,” said Derek. “What do you think, Scott?”

“It would be good to see how we fight as a group,” replied Scott. “Okay, how do you want to do this, Jayce?”

“We can do individual matches or teams,” said Jayce. “It’s up to you really.”

“Let’s do pairs,” said Scott. “That would work on teamwork and still show each person’s ability.”

“Sounds good,” replied Jayce. “How about you and Stiles versus me and Allison first? If that’s okay with you, Allison.”

“That works for me,” said Allison as she moved to change her arrowheads out for rubber heads. They’d hurt, but they wouldn’t injure anyone.

“That’s fine,” said Scott.

“Let’s get started then,” said Stiles, rubbing his hands together.

Everyone cleared the main floor of the loft. Scott and Stiles stood on one side of the room while Jayce and Allison stood on the other. Allison held her bow with an arrow loosely loaded into it, ready to go once Derek signaled the start of the fight. Jayce pulled the water from his water backpack, watching it float out in front of him, forming a large ball of water. Stiles donned his belt with all of his materials, buckling it so that it clung tightly to his waist. with all his materials and grabbed his rune covered bat. Scott took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes, they were a brilliant red and his claws and fangs had appeared.

With both sides ready to begin, Derek called for the start of the match. Jayce moved forward quickly, knowing that Allison would need to keep her distance in order to be effective. He intended to give that distance to her. Scott and Stiles both moved towards him. Jayce stepped into a flowing motion, sending a blast of water straight into Scott’s face. It wasn’t very forceful, but it was enough to stop and disorient him. With a flick of his hand, he whipped another strand of water at Stiles’ right hand. Stiles yelped in pain and dropped his bat. Stiles had just enough time to drop to the ground to avoid the arrow that whizzed by him, grazing his cheek. Jayce hopped back some, holding his water on two pools in the air on either side of him as Allison readied her next arrow. Scott had recovered at this point and ran over to Stiles.

“You okay?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, but we better get it together,” replied Stiles quickly. “It looks like they aren’t pulling any punches.”

Scott nodded and helped his best friend to his feet. Jayce smirked and launched two streams of water directly at them. They dodged in the same direction and narrowly dodged Allison’s second arrow which brushed Scott’s face on its way by. Jayce redirected the water, sending it around his back and then at Scott and Stiles. He continued to move forward, favoring short strikes with the water over large bursts. The attacks knocked the two off balance as they had to keep backing away and dodging to avoid getting hit. Allison saw her opening and nailed Scott in the shoulder with one of her arrows.

A surge of pain swept through Scott’s shoulder. It was just a rubber head, but it still hurt like hell. He felt Stiles’ hand press against his back followed by a surge of energy. Stiles had placed another rune on him. He somehow knew that it had boosted his speed. Stiles nodded at him and then placed his hand on the ground, a bright red seal forming beneath it, as Jayce launched another surge of water at them.

“Flame of life, burn!” exclaimed Stiles.

The seal shined brightly and flames erupted in front of Stiles, intercepting the water. There was a loud hiss as the water was vaporized by the fire. Jayce and Allison were both surprised. Scott knew what Stiles was going to do and had already moved forward, rushing past Stiles towards Jayce and Allison. The steam provided a perfect cover for him and they never saw him coming. Scott tackled Jayce to the ground and began to punch at him. Jayce was able to block, but getting hit by a werewolf still hurt. Allison aimed an arrow for Scott’s side. She let the arrow go, but Stiles suddenly appeared and deflected it with his bat.

Jayce finally managed to push Scott off of him with a blast of water. Jayce slid himself backwards and scrambled to his feet. Allison realized they were too close now for her bow to be useful, so she tossed it aside and grabbed her Chinese ring daggers which were also covered in rubber so as not to actually hurt anyone. Jayce took a defensive stance next to her, holding his remaining water in mid air in front of him.

Scott and Stiles stood next to each other. They crossed in front of each other, moving much faster than they normally could. When they did, their tattoos flashed green for a moment, but no one noticed in the heat of battle. Neither of them could explain it, but they felt in perfect sync with each other. Scott knew what Stiles was thinking and planning to do and Stiles knew where Scott was going to be and what he had in mind. They weren’t verbally or psychically communicating; they just knew. Jayce and Allison could barely keep track of Scott and Stiles. Jayce and Allison stood back to back. Jayce used his water to whip at them, but he could never connect. Allison lunged at Stiles with her daggers, but ultimately missed. Scott used the chance to attack Allison from behind. He knocked her forward and away from Jayce. Stiles did the same, knocking Jayce in the back with his bat. Jayce stumbled forward and fell to the ground as pain erupted in his back from the bat strike.

Scott and Allison exchanged blows, but Scott was too fast. His claws caught on her arm, scratching her, but she didn’t cry out in pain. Jayce tried to throw some awkwardly aimed blasts of water at Stiles, but he was able to sidestep them or deflect with his bat. Stiles swung his bat down at Jayce’s head as Scott reached forward to slash at Allison’s neck. Both of them stopped just short of making contact.

“That’s enough,” said Derek. “It’s clear who won.”

“That was amazing,” said Kira. “Jayce and Allison were so great together in the start but then something just clicked for Scott and Stiles. That was really impressive!”

Stiles smiled at Jayce, offered his hand, and said, “That was a great match.”

Jayce took his hand as Stiles helped him to his feet and replied, “Yeah. You two are something else, especially at the end there.”

“Allison, you’re hurt!” exclaimed Scott as he noticed the gash in her arm. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to actually cut you!”

“It’s alright, Scott,” Allison said with a sincere smile. “I’ll just clean and bandage it and it’ll be fine. It doesn’t even hurt.”

Scott reached out to touch her arm and black veins shot up his hand and lower arms. Scott gave her a sad look and said, “Yes it does.”

“Scott, don’t worry about it. It’s okay,” Allison said.

“I think I can help,” interjected Jayce as he walked over to Allison with Stiles right behind him. “Waterbenders can use their bending to heal, too.”

“Really?” asked Scott, genuinely surprised. “That’s great!”

“Here,” said Jayce. “Let me see your arm.”

Allison extended her now rather bloody arm to Jayce. Jayce pulled the remainder of his water and surrounded her arm, placing his hands in the water itself just above her skin. The water began to glow a bright blue and Allison felt a cool and tingling sensation around her arm. The pack watched in awe as the wound on Allison’s arm slowly closed. Several minutes later, the wound was gone completely as if it had never happened. Jayce removed the water from Allison’s arm and returned it to his water backpack.

“There,” said Jayce. “Should be good as new.”

“Wow,” said Allison. “It feels better than ever. Thank you!”

“No problem,” replied Jayce. “Just glad I could help.”

“Should the rest of us spar or should we just stop here?” asked Isaac.

“I think the rest of you should match up and spar with each other,” answered Jayce. “But try not to hurt each other too much. Just because I can heal you doesn’t mean it’s okay to get severely injured.”

“Lydia and I can watch over them,” said Allison.

“Sounds good,” said Scott. “Kira against Isaac then?”

“I’m ready,” Kira said confidently.

“Show me what you’ve got,” said Isaac.

“Please make sure they don’t kill each other,” said Derek.

“Don’t worry. They’ll be fine,” said Allison as she turned to monitor their match with Lydia’s help.

“That was some impressive teamwork at the end there,” said Derek.

“Yeah, we just kind of clicked,” said Scott.

“It was more than that,” said Stiles. “I just knew where Scott was going to be and I think he knew what I was going to do, too. But it wasn’t really at conscious level. It was kind of like how you think about your own actions. You know where you’re going without really actively thinking about it. I don’t know if that even makes sense.”

“No, I understand what you’re getting at,” said Jayce. “But beyond that, both of you were moving faster than normal.”

“Stiles did place a speed rune on me,” said Scott.

“That would explain why you moved faster, but not why Stiles was,” said Jayce. “He was moving as fast as you were.”

“But how? I’m just a human and I didn’t put a speed rune on myself,” said Stiles.

“You think it has something to do with the bond between a true alpha and a world druid?” asked Derek.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking,” replied Jayce. “That magical bond aside, they’re also very close friends. It probably makes it easier. I bet as time goes on, they’ll see an even greater amount of sync.”

“That’s cool, but what does it mean for us?” asked Scott.

“I don’t know yet,” answered Jayce. “We’ll have to wait and see. But I can’t imagine it’ll be a bad thing.”

“I hate this waiting,” said Stiles.

“We all do,” said Derek. “But we have to for now. The fight will be here before long and we’ll be grateful for the calm.”

“Yeah, I know,” sighed Stiles. “But it’s still annoying and nerve-wracking.”

“Why don’t we go get pizza once they’re done?” suggested Jayce. “It’d be a good way to relax and kind of get everyone’s minds off everything.”

“That’s a great idea!” said Scott excitedly with a big smile. “I love pizza!”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome,” said Stiles with a grin.

“If everyone pitches in, it shouldn’t be bad,” said Derek.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jayce. “My parents know the owners. I’ll work something out.”

“Dude, are you sure?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, it’s not a problem,” replied Jayce. “I’ll give them a call and it’ll be ready for use when we get there.”

Jayce called the pizza parlor while Isaac and Kira finished their match. When they were done, they all drove to the pizza parlor where they were greeted with a private room with its own sound system, ten freshly baked pizzas, and pitchers of fountain drinks. Stiles wasted no time plugging in his ipod to the sound system to get things started before joining everyone else in devouring the pizza. Scott and Stiles quickly got into an eating contest while the girls adamantly tried to stop them, insisting that the pizza was for everyone. Scott and Stiles weren’t dissuaded in the slightest. Jayce watched from the edge of the room with a soft smile on his face as he ate a piece of pizza that he’d taken before Scott and Stiles could eat it all. Derek joined him a moment later.

“They do realize that the biggest fight of their lives is coming, right?” asked Derek.

“Yeah, they know,” answered Jayce. “They’re just trying to relax and have a little fun. They know before long they might not have the chance to for quite a while.”

“They are having a good time, huh?” said Derek, a smile beginning to cross his face.

“Yeah and you should join them,” said Jayce.

“What about you?” asked Derek. “Shouldn’t you join in, too?”

“I suppose I should,” said Jayce.

“After you then,” said Derek, gesturing towards the group.

Jayce shrugged and walked towards the group with a smile. Derek followed right behind him. They ended up needing another two pizzas thanks to Scott and Stiles who somehow managed to eat more pizza than any normal person should be able to. After they’d finished all of the pizza, the pack just sat and relaxed a bit, talking amongst themselves and enjoying each others company. When Stiles’ favorite song came on, he got up and started dancing and managed to convince everyone else to join him for a while. The pack enjoyed what would be their last reprieve and went home to rest well for one last time. This was the calm before the storm. And the storm was coming.

 


	6. Breakfast And Battle

The next morning, Scott woke up a earlier than normal and roused Isaac to help him. Isaac got out of bed rather disdainfully and groggily. Scott and Stiles needed to tell their parents what was going on, so on their way home last night, Scott told Stiles to come over for breakfast with his dad the next morning. Now Scott just had to figure out exactly how to make breakfast. Isaac saw Scott was obviously lost.

“What?” asked Scott.

“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” asked Isaac.

Scott frowned a bit and replied, “Not really. I mean, I’ve never really had to make breakfast before.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Isaac. “I’m a pretty good cook actually. I had to cook for my dad all the time, so I learned a lot.”

“Really? That’s great!” said Scott enthusiastically as a big smile spread across his face. “Just tell me what to do.”

Scott’s enthusiasm made Isaac happy. His smile was pretty infectious and Isaac couldn’t help but smile back at him. Isaac pointed to the pantry.

“I saw some blueberry muffin mix in the pantry the other day. Just follow the instructions on the box and you’ll be fine,” said Isaac.

“You got it!” said Scott as he took off for the pantry.

Scott quickly found the boxes of muffin mix and read the instructions before gathering the few ingredients and kitchenware he needed to make the muffins. Isaac checked the refrigerator. There were plenty of eggs. He grabbed fifteen of the eggs and some onions, bell peppers, ham, and cheese. Isaac expertly and swiftly chopped the ham, onions, and bell peppers into little pieces. The noise drew Scott’s attention, but after giving Isaac a curious look, he went back to his own project. Isaac cracked the eggs into a large bowl and added a some salt, pepper, and a few other spices as well as a little bit of milk to make them extra fluffy. He whipped them gently before grabbing the two largest skillets in the kitchen and melting some butter in one of them. He placed the other on the burner to begin heating up without any butter. He looked over at Scott while he waited and saw him energetically mixing the ingredients in with the muffin mix. It looked like the mix had a good consistency, so Isaac let him be.

With the butter fully melted and coating the skillet, Isaac poured the whipped eggs into the skillet and then began to stir in the onions, bell peppers, and ham. He stirred it a few times and then grabbed the bacon from the refrigerator and started to put the thick slices in the empty skillet. The bacon sizzled and popped immediately, beginning to fill the room with its delicious aroma. Scott had successfully filled two muffin pans with the muffin mixed and placed them in the oven to bake. They heard footsteps and turned to see Melissa walk into the kitchen looking half asleep.

“What’re you two doing?” she asked groggily. “And what’re you doing with my oven mitts, Scott?”

“I was putting some muffins in the oven, so I thought I should wear them,” replied Scott as he removed the light pink oven mitts from his hands.

“Sorry we woke you up early, Ms. McCall,” said Isaac. “We just wanted to go ahead and get everything ready.”

“Ready?” asked Melissa sounding confused. “Ready for what?”

“I told you last night, mom,” replied Scott. “Stiles and his dad are coming over for breakfast because we have something to talk to you about. They should be over in just a few minutes.”

Melissa’s eyes opened wide and Scott could have sworn it looked like the color drained from her face a bit like when she panics.

“Right,” she said shortly before quickly making her way back to her room where the two werewolves could hear her hastily trying to get ready and cursing slightly under her breath.

Scott and Isaac laughed and went back to work. Seeing his eggs were getting closer to being done, Isaac mixed the shredded cheddar cheese into the eggs and continued to stir them to be sure they didn’t burn and would turn out fluffy. Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Scott pulled his muffins out of the oven and set them on the counter before running to answer the door. It was Stiles and his dad.

“Hey!” greeted Scott. “You’re just in time.”

“Dude, that smells amazing,” said Stiles, a hungry look in his eye.

“Stiles, you can wait a few more minutes to eat,” said the Sheriff. “Anyway, thanks for having us over, Scott.”

“No problem! You know you’re both always welcome here,” replied Scott sincerely. “Come on in. Everything should be ready.”

Scott lead them to the dining room where Isaac was now placing the large steaming plate of scrambled eggs next to the plate of bacon and the tray of muffins and toast. Melissa walked in from the kitchen with some jams and butter in hand which she placed next to the muffins and toast.

“Wow, you guys went all out,” said Stiles.

“Isaac and I wanted to make a good breakfast for everyone,” said Scott. “Fortunately, Isaac’s a really good cook.”

“I really just made some scrambled eggs and bacon,” said Isaac modestly.

“It looks great, Isaac,” said the Sheriff warmly. “I can’t wait to taste it.”

“Yeah, it looks and smells great,” seconded Stiles.

Isaac smiled bashfully at the compliments as everyone took their seats around the table. Scott sat with Isaac to his left and Stiles to his right while Melissa and the Sheriff sat next to each other across from the boys. Everyone promptly helped themselves to the food.

“Wow!” exclaimed Scott. “These are the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever had!”

“The extra stuff makes it really awesome,” added Stiles.

“I never knew you were such a good cook,” said Melissa. “I should let you cook more often instead of making you both suffer through my cooking.”

“Mom, your cooking’s great,” said Scott.

“Yeah, well, sometimes I just want to be lazy,” retorted Melissa with a smile.

“They’re right though,” chimed in the Sheriff. “You did a great job, son.”

“Thanks, guys,” said Isaac, scratching the back of his head in mild embarrassment. He was really happy that people, people he really cared about, were enjoying his cooking and praising him for it. It was new to him and he liked it.

“We do have something serious to talk to you about though,” said Scott.

“It’s something supernatural, isn’t it?” asked Melissa.

“Come on. It can’t be that bad,” said the Sheriff. “I mean, we’ve seen just about everything at this point.”

“I don’t think you’ve seen this,” said Stiles.

“I guess we should start by telling you that the nemeton is back and fully grown again,” said Scott.

“What? But it was a stump last time I checked,” said the Sheriff.

“Yeah and it was until I made it grow,” said Stiles.

“And how the hell did you do that?” asked the Sheriff.

“Apparently, I’m a druid,” answered Stiles. “And not just any druid either. I’m something they call a world druid.”

“What’s that mean exactly?” asked Melissa.

“Deaton said it’s a lot like a true alpha,” said Scott. “They have a lot more power than a normal druid and only appear once every hundred years or so and always around a true alpha. They rise out of necessity when their alpha needs them most.”

“Needs them most?” said Melissa. “Why is he needed?”

“I’m getting to that,” continued Scott. “But, basically, Stiles was always destined to be my emissary. As for what’s going on and why he’s needed, well, how do I put this?”

“War is coming to Beacon Hills,” interjected Stiles. “Two different group of coming after us and the nemeton. They want its power and us out of the way.”

“That was blunter than I’d have put it, but that’s basically it,” said Scott.

“Well that’s just great,” said the Sheriff. “Do you at least know who your enemies are?”

“Yeah,” answered Scott. “Jennifer Blake and Gerard Argent.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said the Sheriff.

“That was pretty much our reaction, too,” said Isaac.

“So what do you want us to do?” asked Melissa, remaining at least overtly calm.

“We want you both to be careful,” said Scott with a serious expression on his face. “We don’t want either of you to get hurt or have anything happen to you. With these enemies, there’s a good chance they’ll come after those closest to us. That’s you two.”

The Sheriff and Melissa looked at each other for a moment and then nodded before looking back at the boys.

“We’ll be careful,” said Melissa.

“Just let us know how we can help,” said the Sheriff. “Anything at all.”

“Thanks,” said Scott with a genuine smile. “We appreciate it.”

They finished the rest of the breakfast with pleasant conversation. When everyone was done, Scott, Stiles, and Isaac started picking up the dishes. On their way into the kitchen Scott and Isaac heard a familiar ear-shattering scream. It was Lydia. Their reaction to the sound was very overt.

“What?” asked Stiles. “What’s wrong, Scott?”

“It’s Lydia,” he answered. “She screamed.”

They all knew what that meant. They ran to Stiles’ Jeep as Scott texted the rest of the pack. On the way out, Stiles shouted to their parents that they had heard Lydia scream. Their parents just nodded and went to take care of the rest of the dishes.

“Where is she, Scott?” asked Stiles as he strapped on his belt of materials.

“It sounded like she’s near her house,” replied Scott. “She might be in the woods right behind it.”

Without another word, Stiles sped towards Lydia’s house as fast as his jeep would go. They pulled up to Lydia’s house at the same time as the others. Scott caught Lydia’s scent as he got out of Stiles’ jeep.

“She’s in the woods! Let’s go!,” he shouted.

The pack followed after him without hesitation. They heard Lydia scream briefly one more time, but it sounded like she had been cut short. They quickened their pace and soon found her. She was being held by one of three tree creatures. They were much larger than the wood imps and appeared to be more humanesque. They were ents. The ent that held Lydia wrapped vines around her, binding her in place. One vine gagged her as another moved to begin wrapping itself around her neck. The other two ents held large wooden spears which they turned on the approaching pack.

“Let her go!” shouted Stiles angrily.

The ents seemed to snicker at him. One of them made a motion and suddenly a swarm of small wood imps came rushing in from all sides. Allison grabbed her daggers, knowing her bow was useless here, as Kira drew her sword. They engaged the wood imps along with the others. Stiles was able to strike a few of them like baseballs while the others sliced and scratched at the imps as best as they could. In spite of their efforts, the sheer numbers of them were starting to overwhelm them as they scratched and clawed them. The ents laughed as they choked Lydia slowly. Jayce looked unusually calm.

“Allow me to show you the true destructive power of waterbending,” said Jayce with a serious look on his face.

The ents looked at him with what appeared to be confused expression. Jayce raised his arms to be parallel to his shoulders, his palms facing away from him and his fingers pointing upward. He bent his fingers down some to where they looked like claws almost. When he did this, all of the wood imps suddenly stopped moving. The pack stared in surprise at the imps who were now suspended in mid air. Everyone was confused, but Stiles could feel the flow of energy. There was so much of it that it was almost palpable to Stiles and it was flowing from Jayce and into the creatures. Stiles suddenly connected the pieces in his head as he remembered what Jayce had told them in the woods on his first day back. Just as things clicked in Stiles’ mind, Jayce jerked his arms back towards himself with his left arm passing over his right. As he did so, the wood imps cried out in raw agony as water erupted from each of their bodies and shot forward to circle around Jayce. Their water gone, the dry and empty husks of the wood imps collapsed to the ground. The pack now turned to stare at Jayce in disbelief. The ents also seemed shocked.

“Plants have water in them,” explained Jayce. “In fact, they’re largely water and water runs throughout their entire system. Wood imps are plant based, so I just pulled the water from their bodies. You gave me a large water supply considering the amount of wood imps you sent at us. A poor decision.”

One of the ents charged at Jayce in a rage, aiming its spear at him. Jayce swirled his right arm in a spiral in front of him, bringing the water together and freezing it to form a massive ice spike. He then thrust his hand forward, launching the ice spike straight through the ent’s head. It collapsed immediately, all life vanishing from it in an instant. Jayce melted the ice spike and returned the water to his side.

“Let her go and I’ll let you leave in peace,” said Jayce calmly.

The ent dropped something to the ground. When it hit the ground, it exploded, sending thick black smoke everywhere. It caught Jayce off guard and he tumbled backward in surprise, dropping his water to the ground. The pack moved forward towards Jayce, coughing.

“Wind, lend me your aid!” Stiles shouted, trying not to choke on the smoke as an azure seal formed in front of his hand in mid air.

A strong wind blew through the area, clearing the smoke in seconds. They could see the ents in the distance, but they were pretty far from them. Allison moved to draw her bow, but Stiles grabbed it. Runes began to run down the bow.

“Shoot two arrows at him with the Mongolian draw,” said Stiles. “It won’t miss. This is the Trueshot Barrage.”

Allison nodded and loaded two arrows into her bow. As she aimed with the Mongolian draw, she felt a power coursing through her. She could see her targets so clearly even though they were moving and far away. She didn’t think; she just let go. The arrows shot forward much faster than they should be, surrounded in a bright blue energy. The arrows found their marks, burying themselves deep in the heads of the two remaining ents. The ents fell to the ground, taking Lydia with them. The pack rushed to her. Stiles made it there first, running faster than even the werewolves. He bent down and ripped the vines away and helped her to her feet.

“Are you okay, Lydia?” asked Stiles, his voiced full of obvious concern.

Lydia leaned into him some, her eyes a little wide as she rubbed her neck with her right hand, and replied, “Yeah. I’m okay. Thanks, Stiles.”

“They came after you first,” said Derek. “Why?”

“She’s the only one of us who doesn’t have claws, weapons, or magic,” said Isaac.

“That might not be it,” said Jayce. “She’s a banshee, but we only know a little bit about what that means. What if the enemy knows what that means and they were trying to snuff it out before it became a problem.”

“Jennifer did say I was a problem and a threat to her before,” said Lydia. “And she tried to kill me a lot like this. By strangling me.”

“We’d never let that happen,” said Stiles, pulling her closer.

“I know,” she said softly. “But I think I need to learn more about my powers. If they scare her, then that means there’s more we don’t know. If I can learn to use them, I can help in this fight.”

“Lydia, you were always helpful,” said Allison with a smile.

“You know what I mean though,” said Lydia. “And I think we can all agree it wouldn’t hurt.”

“No, that’d be awesome if you could learn how to use your powers better,” said Scott with a smile. “And not just because it’ll help us. It’ll also help you a lot, too.”

Lydia smiled at Scott’s words and replied, “Thanks, Scott. I’m sure I can learn quickly. I always do after all.”

“That you do,” said Stiles.

“Let’s get her home,” said Scott. “She probably needs to rest and her parents are probably wondering where she went.”

The pack returned it Lydia’s house. They all went inside with her where her mother greeted them warmly.

“I wasn’t expecting so many of Lydia’s friends,” she said. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything prepared.”

“That’s alright, Mrs. Martin,” said Scott. “We kind of just barged in.”

“Lydia, are you alright?” asked her mom, noticing that she seemed distracted.

The others looked at her and saw she looked a bit different. Allison recognized that look. She knew Lydia was hearing the voices calling to her again. The voices resounded through Lydia’s head. She could hear so many of them, screaming at her, but there were other voices. They were familiar, but she couldn’t make them out. She needed to scream, but her mom was there. Her face contorted as she tried to keep it in. The urge was overwhelming. Stiles placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Lydia, just do it,” he said, his face and voice conveying his concern. “It’s okay. Scream.”

She looked at him and she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Lydia opened her mouth and an ear-shattering scream leapt from his mouth, shaking the walls and windows of the house. Everyone covered their ears as it deafened them, but not Lydia. It made things clear for her. She could hear it. She could hear the message.

“They are in danger. They will die.”

That was it. That was all she got for now. She looked at her mom to see her reaction and was surprised to find her mother smiling at her as if she was proud of her.

“So you did inherit the family’s power,” said her mother.

“Family’s power?” asked Lydia. “Are you a banshee, too, then?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” replied her mother. “That power skipped me as it does sometimes. But I do know about the family history and the power of the banshee. I’ll be able to help you learn to control it and use your powers fully.”

“So you’re not surprised or afraid?” asked Lydia.

“Not at all! I’d never be afraid of my daughter,” her mother answered. “I’m going to help you. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner. If the rest of you wouldn’t mind, I need to speak with my daughter.”

“Not at all,” said Scott. “We’ll be going.”

“Thank you,” she said, turning around to walk away with Lydia, but she stopped for a moment. “Oh, and Scott.”

“Yes, Mrs. Martin,” asked Scott.

“Good luck,” she said softly. “You’ll need it for what’s to come.”

“I.. Uh...” stammered Scott.

“No need to worry,” she said waving her hand back at him as she continued walking with Lydia. “The Martins are good friends with the Mahealanis!”

“Seriously, the amount of people who actually knew what was going on in the town and kept quiet about it kind of bugs me,” said Stiles.

“Yeah, but isn’t that what we’ve been doing?” asked Scott.

“I guess,” Stiles replied. “Anyway, let’s get going.”

“Yeah, we need to plan,” said Derek. “She’ll come when she’s ready. Let her mom help her.”

Scott nodded and the pack left the house, leaving Lydia to her mother.


	7. The Power Of A Banshee

Lydia walked to her room with her mother. They sat on her bed when they arrived. Her mother smiled gently at her.

“I know you must be scared and confused about all this,” said her mother.

“Actually, you’d be surprised,” said Lydia, recalling everything she’d been through.

“You’ve been through more than I realized, I see,” her mom said, a sad expression crossing her face for a moment.. “Well, I suppose I should start teaching you.”

“What’s there to teach?” asked Lydia. “I’m a harbinger of death. It’s all I can do. Find dead bodies. Know when someone’s going to die.”

“No, you can do so much more!” exclaimed her mother.

“Like what?” asked Lydia, her voice full of skepticism.

“Even though I wasn’t a banshee, your grandmother taught me all about the banshees. She said banshees have always known for being harbingers, but that few knew of their true power.”

“And what’s that?” asked Lydia, raising an eyebrow at her mother.

“She said that a full-fledged banshee could become a master of death, no longer just its harbinger.”

“You mean I could control who lives and dies?”

“Yes and no. You’ve seen the effect of your scream on others already, haven’t you?” asked her mother rhetorically, a knowing look on her face.

“Yeah, but that’s just because it’s so loud,” answered Lydia dismissively.

“Again, yes and no. Your scream isn’t just loud, Lydia. It has power. It can change and affect the universe around you. That’s why it lets you hear things. For you, it makes things clearer. But that’s not all. With the right focus and control, your scream can do many things.”

“How do I control it?” asked Lydia, finally beginning to believe what her mom was telling her. She’d seen a lot of strange things lately, so who’s to say her mom was wrong?

“That depends on what you want to do,” responded her mother, pausing a moment to think. “But, from the way your grandmother described it to me, it’s a mental thing. You have to want it, to will it to be. Bend the universe to your will. But it takes practice.”

“Ok, well, what can I do with it? Anything?”

“No, your power is still limited in scope. The easiest thing you can do is to use your scream to knock someone out.”

“I can do that?” asked Lydia, unable to hide the surprise in her voice and on her face.

“Yes. And you can do it to a specific person or a group of people. Obviously, knocking one person out in a crowd will be a lot harder than knocking the whole crowd out, but you’ll learn,” her mother replied confidently.

“How do I practice?”

“You can practice on me. I don’t mind,” her mother replied with a warm smile.

“You’re sure? I don’t want to hurt you,” asked Lydia, her face expressing sincere concern for her mother.

“Don’t worry, Lydia,” said her mother, taking Lydia’s hand and squeezing it softly. “ I’ll be fine.”

Lydia nodded, squeezing her mother’s hand gently, and closed her eyes, listening to everything around her. She reached out for the sounds only she could hear, tuning out the normal sounds. Voices. So many voices of banshees across the world and in different times. She couldn’t make out anything clearly. It was just loud and staticy. Her face scrunched in pain and focus as she tried to filter the sounds. Suddenly, she heard something different. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it wasn’t a banshee. It wasn’t a voice. It was a sound. A pure tone.

Lydia focused on the sound, trying to lock onto it. In spite of her efforts, she started to lose the sound. As it faded from her hearing, Lydia began to see things in her mind’s eye. Strings. Strings everywhere. They all called to her, each producing its own sounds. The sounds melded together forming inaudible static. She tried to see them as a whole, but she couldn’t. Then she saw one string. It looked like all the others, but it felt different to her. She reached out with her hand and plucked the string. The effect was immediate. The tone that she had been trying to lock on to resounded throughout her mind. For a moment, she understood what it was, but the understanding quickly slipped through her fingers like grains of sand falling through them. But she knew it was different. That sound wasn’t a voice. It was an aspect of the universe. She couldn’t really hear and understand it yet, but she was making progress.

“It looks like you’re getting there,” said her mother.

Lydia opened her eyes and realized that her hand was outstretched as if it had just plucked an invisible string. She looked at her mother, lowering her hand.

“I heard something,” said Lydia. “But it wasn’t a voice.”

“Not everything a banshee hears is a voice or even another banshee,” replied her mother.

“So what was it then?”

“It could have been anything. A person, an object, a concept, or evening a governing principle of the universe.”

“I can hear all that?”

“Well, possibly. A banshee’s hearing is on a different level than normal people. The key is finding the right sound so that you can manipulate it.”

“And I manipulate it with my scream?”

“Your scream is just a way of channeling your will. You still have to direct it. Want it and then make it happen in your mind.”

“Ok. I’m going to try again.”

“You can do it, sweetie.”

Lydia closed her eyes again, listening for the sound. This time a new sound appeared. It sounded familiar and close. She focused on it and she realized what it was. It was her mother. Her essence. Her self in the past, present, and future. Lydia thought about it, imagining her mother falling asleep, and then she opened her eyes and screamed.

Almost immediately, her mother fell backwards on the bed, unconscious. Lydia quickly checked on her. Her mother was breathing fine. She was only asleep. Lydia called out to her mother and shook her gently. Her mother stirred without much resistance. She smiled at Lydia as she woke up, taking Lydia’s hand as she sat up.

“I knew you could do it,” said her mother.

“Are you okay?” Lydia asked, still worried about her mother.

“I’m fine. You just put me to sleep. A light sleep at that. You’ll get better at it and be able to do it much faster as time goes on.”

“It still took a lot of effort and focus.”

“I know, but I also know you. You’ll master it quickly.”

“Thanks, mom,” Lydia said, a bright smiles crossing her face.

“There’s so much more you’ll be able to do, too. You can paralyze people if you will and control it right.”

“So just freeze them instead of knocking them out?”

“Yes. Also, my grandmother told me that the most powerful banshees could even learn to suspend death.”

“Suspend death? What’s that mean?”

“It means just what it sounds like. You can suspend death. You can stop someone from dying.”

“How?”

“Remember when I said a banshee can be a master of death and not just its harbinger? That’s what I meant. The most powerful banshees can actually stop death with their screams instead of announcing its coming.”

“So I just scream?”

“Yes. Just like when you want to knock someone out, you will it. You make your desire into reality by warping it with your scream.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“The concept and idea behind it is easy, but the execution is extremely difficult. But I have no doubt that you’ll be able to do it.”

“I hope I won’t ever need to.”

“Neither do I,  but I still think you can do it.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“You should try and practice some more. Don’t necessarily try to scream, but listen for now. Try to find your way through the sounds and voices. Find the right ones to manipulate.”

Lydia nodded and closed her eyes once more. She listened, hearing all the voices and sounds around her. She could hear her mother’s sound. It was strong and loving. Lydia wondered if she could listen further, so she strained her hearing, listening closely. She found what she was looking for. Her friends. She couldn’t hear their conversations, but she could hear their sounds, their vibrations in the universe. She listened closely to some of them. Scott’s was subdued in a way, but still powerful in tone. Stiles’ was loud and seemingly chaotic, but she could hear the order in the chaos. Allison’s was strong, determined, and unwavering, yet with a surprisingly gentle feel to it. She smiled at these sounds, but something caught her attention. Allison’s sound wavered for a moment along with Stiles’. It was very brief, less than a second really, but something was off. They sounded cold, dark, and different. Then Lydia heard a new sound. It was a cold sound, but she felt drawn to it. The strings appeared in her minds eye again and she saw the sound’s string. It was an icy blue. She reached out for it with her hand. When she plucked it, it made a bizarre melancholic sound. Lydia’s eyes snapped open. What she saw wasn’t her room. Instead, everything was blue and baroque ghostly figures flew around the room. The figures appeared humanesque, but their features were bizarre and distorted. They were all female and they all wore the same tattered white dresses. Lydia screamed.

When she did, the sound faded as did the blue and the ghostly figures. Lydia’s mother took her hand.

“Are you alright, Lydia?” she asked.

“I just heard a sound. It was cold and weird and sad,” answered Lydia. “And when I opened my eyes, everything was blue and icy and there were ghosts.”

“That’s strange that your powers would turn into something visual,” said her mother, sounding genuinely surprised. “What do you think it was?”

“I don’t know. But it kind of felt like death,” replied Lydia, still in mild shock from what she saw.

“Maybe it was. After all, you are a banshee.”

“I’d rather not deal with it again.”

“You might have to.”

“I know,” said Lydia. “But I’d really rather not.”

“I know,” said her mother, rubbing her hand on Lydia’s back comfortingly. “But you’ll be okay. You and your friends.”

“I hope so,” said Lydia, leaning onto her mother now. “I want to do more with my powers than tell people they’re about to die.”

“You will, Lydia. You will,” said her mother. “You should get some rest for now. It’ll come to you when you need it.”

“Thanks, mom,” said Lydia, smiling to hide her fear and worry for what was to come. “For everything.”

“It was never any trouble,” her mom replied as she tucked Lydia in like she did when Lydia was younger. “But for now, rest. You need it.”

Lydia nodded and closed her eyes. In a few moments, she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

 


	8. The Battle Of Beacon Hills High

The pack met together at school the next day. In spite of everything going on, it was time to start another week of school. That also meant it was time for lacrosse practice to start. After a surprisingly uneventful school day, Scott and Stiles made their way to the locker room where they were surprised to find Jayce. He noticed their surprised expressions and laughed.

“If you’re surprised to see me, wait til you see what coach has to show you,” Jayce said, gesturing towards coach.

“Listen up,” shouted coach Finstock. “We’ve got another new member coming out this season. I was a bit surprised, too, but it turns out that California rules allow for that. Or something.”

“What’re you talking about coach?” asked Danny.

“You’ll see when we get out on the field,” replied coach. “Speaking of which, get your asses in gear! We’ve got a lot of work to do!”

Everyone quickly pulled the rest of their gear on and jogged out onto the field. Jayce was right. Scott and Stiles were a lot more surprised by what was waiting for them on the field. As the team ran onto the field, Kira, in full lacrosse gear, spun around to face them, her hair spinning gracefully with her as she did. She smiled upon seeing the three boys.

“Well, I definitely didn’t see that coming,” said Stiles.

“Yeah,” said Scott.

“I always knew you liked strong girls,” said Isaac, patting Scott on the back before running to join everyone.

“Told you,” said Jayce with a huge smile as he ran after Isaac.

“Alright, listen up!” shouted coach with his usual vigor. “This is Kira… Uh… What’s your last name again?”

“Yukimura,” replied Kira.

“Yukimura? Is that Japanese for Greenburg?” asked coach.

“Umm… I don’t think so?” answered Kira, completely unsure how to respond to that.

“Anyway, this is Kira,” continue coach. “She’ll be joining the team this season. Show her the ropes and don’t get any ideas in those horny little minds of yours. Now let’s get started!”

There were some whoops and yells as the team lined up for drills. Scott ran over to Kira.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming out for the team?” asked Scott.

“I wanted it to be a surprise and I wasn’t even sure if coach would let me,” replied Kira. “You’re not mad, are you?”

“No! I think it’s great,” said Scott with a big smile. “I hope you can keep up!”  
“Yeah, Scotty and I here are sort of the best on this team,” interjected Stiles.

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Kira with a sly smile as her eyes flashed orange for a moment. “I can keep up.”

Scott’s smile just got bigger as Stiles’ fell from his face.

“Great,” said Stiles. “More supernatural creatures on the team. How am I supposed to compete with that?”

“Don’t worry, dude,” said Scott, grasping Stiles’ shoulder with his hand. “You’ll be great. We practiced a lot and you’ve gotten better.”

“Yeah, thanks,” said Stiles, his smile returning.

Without further delay, they joined the others and the field as coach was yelling at them for taking too long. Kira seemed to take to lacrosse really well. She was able to keep up with everyone on the team. It came time to start running plays and Jayce and Kira were paired together. They started running down the field as the others tried to stop them. Kira was swift and nimble and the others had a hard time keeping up with her. Jayce wasn’t as fast as Kira, but he was fluid and able to flow around everyone without much trouble. The two of them made their way down the field quickly and almost entirely unopposed, passing the ball to each other just before they would hit a snag. Jayce made it into scoring range, but saw the incoming block, so he quickly passed to Kira. Kira caught the ball as she jumped through the air. When she landed, she was already in position to shoot. She took her shot as her feet hit the ground. The ball flew through the air so fast that Danny didn’t even have time to stop it from sailing into the goal. Jayce and Kira high-fived each other.

“Nice shot,” said Danny.

“Thanks!” said Kira.

“Matherson! Yukimura! Get down here!” shouted coach.

The two of them quickly made their way back to coach.

“That was really impressive,” he said. “If we have a few more like you, winning state’ll be easy.”

“Thanks, coach,” said Kira.

“McCall! Stilinski! You two’re up next,” shouted coach. “Let’s see what you can do.”

Scott and Stiles took their positions. They looked at each other and nodded. When coach blew his whistle, they took off down the field. They could feel it happening again. They felt in sync with each other and they knew exactly where they would be. Stiles could tell he was moving much faster and smoother than he could normally. They outran the first line of defense and quickly dodged the next. A second later, they were both in front of the goal. Stiles shot the ball over to Scott who was already in a shooting stance. When the ball hit his stick, he launched the ball at the goal. Danny moved to block it, but he couldn’t make it in time. Scott and Stiles bumped fists and turned to see coach running over to them with Jayce and Kira in tow.

“What the hell was that?!” asked coach.

“What do you mean, coach?” asked Scott.

“I’ve never seen two people move down the field and score a goal that fast. Sure, those two were good, but you two were on a whole different level,” said coach.

“So, is that good?” asked Stiles

“Is that good? IS THAT GOOD?!” exclaimed coach. “Stilinski, the four of your are going to be first line. You tell me if that’s good.”

“I’d say that sounds pretty good, coach,” said Stiles.

“Great. Now get back to work!” shouted coach as he blew his whistle.

The four of them rejoined the rest of the team and they got back to practice. The rest of practice was pretty uneventful. After they finished their conditioning at the end of practice, coach called everyone to the center of the field.

“Alright, so this Friday we’re going to have a scrimmage. It’ll be us against our rival school in a preseason match,” said coach.

“Why are we having a match this early?” asked Scott.

“Because I want to see how you play in a real game,” said coach. “A practice can only tell you so much.”

“Let me guess,” said Stiles. “This is going to be a big game.”

“Oooh yeah,” said coach enthusiastically. “Sure it’s a preseason game, but it’s still against our rivals. I expect all of you to go out there and kick some ass. So work really hard this week, alright?”

“Yes, coach!” the team responded in unison.

“Alright, get out of here,” said coach. “I’ll see you tomorrow for practice.”

The team dispersed and went their separate ways as practice ended. Word of the big scrimmage had spread through the school quickly and everyone was talking about it by the end of the day on Tuesday. Things went along normally. Everyone went to class and practice continued like normal. It was if nothing had ever happened or was going to happen. Things were quiet and normal. The pack was still on the lookout, but they had no idea why their enemies hadn’t made any moves. After practice Thursday, Danny walked up to Scott, Stiles, Jayce, and Isaac in the locker room.

“Don’t you think it’s been a bit quiet lately?” he asked. “A little too quiet with a big game around the corner?”

“What’re you saying, Danny?” asked Scott with a serious expression.

“Nothing really,” said Danny. “Just, isn’t it wierd that your enemy suddenly disappears for a week without a sound just before a big game where your entire pack, their friends, and their families will be there?”

“You think they’re going to try something at the game,” said Stiles.

“It would be the best time if they haven’t done anything yet,” said Danny. “And it’s a common tactic in history. Just be careful, okay?”

With that, Danny turned and walked out of the locker room leaving the boys with their thoughts. Scott texted everyone and they met at Derek’s loft where he told them what Danny had said.

“I think he’s right,” said Allison. “Strategically, it’s the perfect time to strike.”

“And we know Gerard’s not against doing something at a big lacrosse game,” said Lydia. “He did it before with Jackson.”

“I think it’s safe to assume there will be an attack tomorrow night at the game,” said Jayce.

“We need to tell our parents,” said Stiles.

“Definitely,” said Scott. “Stiles, have your dad come armed. Same for you, Allison. And bring your own weapons, too.”

“Not a problem,” said Allison.

“Yeah, I can do that,” said Stiles. “But what about my bat and belt? I can’t wear those on the field.”

“Give them to me,” said Lydia. “I’ll hold onto them at the game until you need them.”

“I should be fine. There will be plenty of water in the coolers at the game, so I doubt I need to worry about my water backpack,” said Jayce.

“I’ll tell my parents to bring my sword to the game,” said Kira. “Something tells me they won’t be very surprised.”

“We need to be ready for anything,” said Derek. “We don’t know which of them will come for us or if both of them will.”

“How’re we going to handle all the people?” asked Scott. “We can’t let innocent people get hurt.”

“We’ll do our best to protect them and get them out of there as quickly as we can,” replied Derek. “But I don’t know if we’ll make it out without any casualties. Not with that many people around.”

“We can always try,” said Scott with determination. “Let’s go home for now. We have a big day tomorrow.”

Everyone agreed with Scott and went their separate ways and to tell their parents what to expect.

* * *

Stiles went by the station, knowing his dad was working late so he could be off for the game tomorrow.

“Dad, I need to talk to you,” said Stiles as he stepped into his dad’s office.

“I figured you’d need to before too long,” said his dad. “What’s going on?”

“They’re going to attack at the game tomorrow,” said Stiles.

“Are you sure?” asked the sheriff, a serious expression on his face.

“Pretty sure, yeah,” answered Stiles. “They’ve been quiet all week and this is where we’ll all be gathered with our friends and families.”

“It makes sense,” agreed the sheriff. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to stay safe,” said Stiles. “But I know you won’t just sit there and do nothing, so come to the game armed. Maybe have some extra officers stationed around the field to help evacuate people if we need to.”

“Stiles, I’ll be alright, I promise,” said the sheriff. “I can assign some extra officers to the game without too many issues. I’ll tell them what to do if something bad happens.”

“Thanks, dad. For everything,” said Stiles.

“It’s not a problem, Stiles,” said the sheriff.

“See you at home?” asked Stiles.

“Yeah. Good luck tomorrow,” said the Sheriff.

“Thanks,” said Stiles with a smile as he left his dad’s office and headed home.

* * *

Scott and Isaac made it home and found Melissa there. She’d gotten off early from the hospital because they had been surprisingly slow lately and they were overstaffed that night. She had dinner ready when they got home.

“Oh, perfect,” she said. “You two both got here right as I finished. You’ll need a good meal and night’s rest before the game tomorrow.”

“Mom, we need to talk,” Scott said, trying not to sound too serious.

She set the food down, looked intensely at Scott, and said, “What’s wrong?”

“We think they’re going to attack tomorrow night at the game,” said Scott.

“Let me guess, you want me to stay here?” Melissa asked.

“You’d be safest here, mom,” said Scott.

“Like hell I’m going to miss my boys’ first lacrosse game of the season,” Melissa said indignantly. “I don’t care what’s going on, I’m going to that game. I can handle myself, too, Scott.”

Scott sighed and said, “I knew you wouldn’t want to stay home, so will you at least sit with Stiles’ dad and Mr. Argent.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Melissa said. “I imagine they’ll both be armed.”

“Allison, too,” added Isaac.

“Of course she will be,” said Melissa. “Well, it seems you’re going to have a busy day tomorrow. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Now, sit down so we can all have dinner together.”

Scott and Isaac smiled at her before happily joining her around the table. Melissa had cooked a delicious dinner and they all dug in.

* * *

Allison returned home to find her dead cleaning and preparing his guns.

“So you know already?” she asked.

“Know? No, I don’t know for sure, but it seemed likely especially considering who your enemies are,” Chris responded.

“Then you know we both need to bring our weapons to the game tomorrow,” Allison said.

“I was already planning on it,” said Chris.

“Good,” said Allison. “I’ll get my weapons ready then.”

Allison retrieved her bow, handheld crossbow, arrows, and daggers before returning to her dad. They cleaned and prepared their weapons. They would need them all tomorrow. They would be ready.

* * *

Friday came and with it a thick air of apprehension. The pack knew the attack was coming, but they didn’t know when, how, or from who. This would be their toughest fight yet and they would have to worry about protecting innocent people, too. There was a lot on the line and a lot could go wrong. The school day drug by at a snail’s pace. Eventually, the school day ended. Stiles went to meet Lydia so that he could give her his bat and belt. When he was done, he rejoined Scott, Isaac, Jayce, and Kira and they went to the locker room to prepare for the scrimmage.

“Maybe they won’t attack and things will be fine,” said Kira trying to sound optimistic.

“Yeah, I kind of doubt that," said Isaac.

"Just trying to be optimistic," sighed Kira.

"Let's just hope no one gets caught in the crossfire," said Stiles.

"Shh. Coach is coming," said Scott. "We should get ready."

"Alright, listen up!" shouted coach. "I know we've only been practicing for a week now, but you seem to be putting it together. We have a lot of veteran players back this season, so that helps us. Now, you friends, girlfriends, and family are all out there. Don't disappoint them. Give 'em everything you've got. Now, let's go out there and kick some ass!"

The locker room erupted in excited bravado as the team grabbed their equipment and made their way to the field. It was game time.

The crowd cheered as they ran onto the field. The stands were completely packed and there were people standing around the bleachers, too. Everyone wanted to be there for the first lacrosse game. Normally, that’d be awesome and exciting, but for the pack, they knew it meant higher risk of casualties and collateral damage.

The team took their positions on the field while Scott took his position for the opening face-off. A moment later, this ref’s whistle blew and the game began. Scott quickly slammed the head of his stick down, covering the ball, and shot it sideways along the ground towards Kira who scooped it up and started running. Seeing the oncoming block, she passed the ball to Jayce who was only a short distance from scoring range. He caught the pass and nimbly flowed around the approaching defender before firing of his shot, easily scoring a goal. The crowd cheered at the early score.

The game continued and the opposing team was able to score before much longer. After that, both teams seemed to ramp up both their offense and defense, becoming more aggressive. The score was an even two to two as halftime approached. Stiles had clear shot at the goal and only ten seconds remained on the clock. He went to take his shot when he felt it. The ground was beginning to shake. It started as a small rumble, but it quickly turned into a violent shake causing Stiles and several other players to lose their footing.

“Earthquake!” someone shouted in the crowd.

But Stiles knew that wasn’t it. He could feel the magic behind this. The attack had already begun.

“Scott, it’s starting! Be careful!” he shouted as he tried to climb to his feet in spite of the shaking ground.

As he started to run for the stands, the ground itself began to buckle and split open as the quaking intensified. Screams filled the air as players and fans tried to move out of the way. Stiles saw his dad’s deputies doing their best to start directing people to safety. Kira was running next to him towards the stands.

“Stiles!” shouted Lydia as she started running towards him.

He reached her a moment later and retrieved his bat and belt from her. He thanked her and quickly ran to find Scott. Kira was almost to the stands when she heard her mother.

“Kira!” shouted Mrs. Yukimura. “Catch!”

She threw Kira’s katana and Kira caught it with ease, unsheathing the blade quickly. She took off after Stiles, noticing Derek running onto the field.

“I don’t get it,” said Scott. “If this is supposed to be their big attack, then why are they just making the ground shake?”

“Oh, come on, Scott,” said an all too familiar voice. “Surely you didn’t think that’s all I had planned for you?”

The pack spun around to see Jennifer standing not far from them, her eyes a bright blue. That’s when they noticed that something was coming out of the ground. Stone and earth golems were beginning to form from the cracks in the ground. The pack heard screams from the stands and saw that a large swarm of small wood imps was attacking the fans. Moments later, they heard gunfire. The sheriff, Chris, and Allison had started fighting the wood imps.

“Seems you came prepared,” said Jennifer. “Well, so did I.”

Jennifer shifted, baring her fangs and claws with a loud growl. The area was in complete pandemonium. People ran screaming while they tried to avoid being harassed by wood imps are smashed by the golems. Some people had made it to the parking lot, but soon found themselves greeted by fully armed ents.

“Scott, what do we do?” asked Kira.

“We have to think fast,” said Derek.

“I know that!” exclaimed Scott.

“Scott, it’s okay. Relax, buddy,” said Stiles, placing his hand on Scott’s shoulder. “We’re a team. We got this.”

“I have a plan,” said Jayce. “Is that okay, Scott?”

“Yeah, you were always good at strategy,” replied Scott, looking a little relieved.

“Scott and Stiles, you two handle Jennifer. Kira and Isaac, you two handle things in the parking lot and ensure people escape. Derek, go support the sheriff and the Argents. I’ll handle the creatures on the field.”

“By yourself?” asked Derek.

“There’s no time to argue,” said Scott. “Go!”

With a nod, everyone took off towards their respective assignments. Scott and Stiles turned to face Jennifer. Stiles brandished his bat as Scott shifted next to him. They charged her. Scott swung at her with his claws, but she was able to block his every move. Stiles moved forward to hit her with his bat, but she jumped backwards to dodge.

“Don’t you think two against one is a little unfair, boys?” asked Jennifer.

“No, not really,” said Stiles.

“Well it is,” she said with a malevolent smile on her face. “You really need your whole pack going against me for it to be fair.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Scott.

Scott began exchanging blows with Jennifer. They were pretty much equally matched and neither could land a solid hit on the other. Stiles placed his hand on the ground, a green seal forming beneath it. Vines sprang forth from the ground and wrapped themselves around Jennifer's right ankle, tripping her. Scott jumped on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

“Don’t forget. I’m a druid, too,” said Jennifer.

Scott was knocked aside by a giant rock that had sprung forth from the ground. With Scott off of her, Jennifer slashed the vines binding her ankle and returned to her feet. Stiles helped Scott back to his feet. That blow had really hurt Scott, winding him for a moment, but he was recovering. It looked like they had their work cut out for them with her.

Jayce ran across the field, pulling all of the water from the water coolers on both sides of the field. Pulling it all around himself, he swung a long strand of it like a sword, slicing through one of the stone golems. That got their attention and they began to move in on him. When some of them got closer, he froze the water into myriad large ice spikes and then launched them into the golems. They fell quickly and Jayce retrieved the frozen water from his enemies corpses, returning it around himself as he moved to the next group of enemies.

Derek reached the stand quickly and began tearing away at the closest wood imps he could find. He saw the sheriff and the Argents defending Lydia and Melissa and ran to join them.

“We need to clear these things so we can get people out of here,” said the sheriff.

“Kira and Isaac are clearing things out in the parking lot,” said Derek. “I’ll help you here.”

“We need it,” said Chris. “These things seem endless.”

“Guess I better get started then,” said Derek.

Derek clawed through some more of the wood imps, trying to keep them away from the trapped people. Chris was right though. For everyone he took down, it looked like two more replaced it. At this rate, they’d run out of ammo and Derek probably wouldn’t be enough to stop them. They would be overrun.

Kira and Isaac finally reached the parking lot. The ents were advancing on the people and some were even shaking cars with people inside of them.

“We have to protect the people,” Kira said. “That’s a first priority.”

“Got it,” said Isaac, shifting next to Kira.

“Let’s move,” said Kira.

Kira and Isaac took off running through the parking lot in opposite directions. Isaac spotted an ent that had two parents wrapped in vines, choking them. Isaac quickly slashed the vines with his claws before placing himself. between the ent and the parents. The parents scrambled away and Isaac engaged the ent, slashing with his claws. He managed to fake out the ent and dug his claws into the ent’s abdomen. Isaac ripped upward with his claws, shredding the body of the ent as it cried out in pain before collapsing. Not wasting any time, Isaac moved on to the next ent.

Kira ran through the crowd of ents. Her sword crackled with bright blue electricity as Kira charged it with her powers. She easily cut through the ents as she ran along. A trio of ents blocked her path. They attacked her with their wooden spears, but Kira deflected their attacks. Her eyes turned orange as she shoved her sword through the body of the middle ent. As she did so, blue lightning arced from the sword to the left and right, electrocuting the other two ents. All three collapsed in a lifeless heap. Kira quickly continued on. She’d only just begun and there were still a lot of people in danger.

Lydia watched the chaos around her. She watched as her best friend, Allison, and everyone else tried to protect her and the others. She was tired of always being the one that needed protection. It was time for her to act. Lydia closed her eyes and listened. There was a lot of sound around her, but she could hear past the chaos. She reached for those special sounds, the sounds of the wood imps. She found them. She wanted them to go to sleep so they couldn’t hurt anyone else. She focused on what she wanted and then she screamed. The sound echoed throughout the field, but it worked. All of the wood imps collapsed on the spot. They were out cold. The sheriff looked at Lydia for a half second before using the opportunity to grab Melissa and help direct everyone away from the bleachers. Melissa helped him direct people.

“Lydia that was amazing,” said Allison.

“Mom taught me how to do it,” replied Lydia. “Apparently, my powers can do other things besides let me know when someone’s about to die..”

“That’s great,” said Derek. “Will you be alright here?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” said Allison. “Go.”

Derek nodded and ran for the parking lot to help Kira and Isaac finish clearing the ents so that everyone could escape.

Derek reached the parking lot and found Isaac struggling with a group of ents. He rushed over to help Isaac. As he clawed through some of the ents, he heard an all too familiar sound, the twang of a bow and the whizzing of an arrow. Arrows slammed into each of the ents. On contact, the arrows ignited in spark and fire, blinding Derek and Isaac. Shots came for them next.

Jayce heard explosions and gunfire nearby. He looked and saw the volley of arrows attacking the golems and the ents in the parking lot. He knew what it meant. Gerard was here. He quickly pulled his water into a barrier, freezing it just in time to stop the arrows that were coming for him.

Kira knocked the arrows away with her sword, defending Derek and Isaac.

“We need to get out of here,” said Kira. “They took out the rest of the ents, so everyone can escape. We can’t fight the hunters, too, so we need to go.”

“Alright,” said Derek, recovering some. “Let’s join up with the others and get out of here.”

Kira and Isaac nodded and the group took off for the field, dodging the occasional arrow that came for them.

Scott and Stiles had been holding their own against Jennifer, but they just couldn’t seem to land a meaningful blows. Stiles had tried using a lot of different spells and even some summonings. She just repelled them, dodged them, or sliced through them with her claws as if they were nothing. Scott also hadn’t been able to land anything more than a glancing blow with his claws. They felt in sync with each other, but she was just on another level.

Suddenly, several arrows struck the field in front of them sending sparks and flames everywhere. The three of them staggered away from the blast. Stiles grabbed Scott and pulled him away. A moment later, Scott’s vision returned. They looked towards the bleachers and saw Gerard there, holding Allison tightly. Lydia, the sheriff, and Chris lay on the ground unconscious with a hunter standing over each of them. Scott just stared, terror filling him as he noticed the large knife in Gerard’s hand.

“I told you, Scott,” shouted Gerard. “She was always the prize. But now you’ve lost her.”

“Gerard, NO!” shouted Scott as loudly as he could.

Lydia, the sheriff, and Chris began to wake up and turned to look up at Gerard. They did so just in time to see him plunge the knife into Allison’s abdomen and twist before yanking it out. Allison’s eyes grew wide in shock and she grasped at the hole in her stomach. Chris shouted and tried to stand, but was only knocked aside by the hunter above him. Gerard quickly descended the bleachers as Allison collapsed to her knees, blood gushing from her wound. She looked out at the field and saw Scott running towards her. It was the last thing she saw before darkness enveloped her. As she faded, she heard Lydia’s scream, shouting her name. But it, too, was gone in the darkness.

 


	9. This Is The Story Of Allison Argent...

Allison was bleeding. Everything was dark and cold and she was bleeding. She felt her life draining from her. Then she felt warmth. Someone was holding her. It was Scott. He was cradling her in his arms. She remembered this.

“Allison,” he cried, his voice cracking. “No.”

“It’s okay, Scott,” she said softly. The last thing she wanted was for him to suffer.

“It’s not okay,” said Scott, struggling to keep his composure. “You were just stabbed by an oni and I can’t even take your pain.”

“Scott, it’s okay,” she replied weakly. “I’m going to die, but I’m in the arms of the one I love, the one I’ve always loved.”

“Allison…” Scott trailed off as he finally started to cry.

“You’re not going to die today,” said a familiar voice.

Scott turned his head to see Chris Argent had appeared next to him. He dropped his gun and placed his jacket under Allison’s back, covering the exit wound. Scott followed suit and took his jacket to cover the wound on her abdomen.

“You have to apply pressure to the wound,  Scott,” Chris said calmly. “Press hard while I support her head.”

He turned to Kira and shouted, “Call an ambulance! We need to get her to the hospital fast!”

Kira nodded and quickly dialed 911 on her phone as Stiles and Lydia came running back outside. They both ran and dropped to their knees next to Allison.

“I told you not to come,” Lydia said through her tears. “Didn’t you get my message?”

“Of course I did,” Allison said softly. “But you know I couldn’t do that.”

“This is my fault,” said Stiles. “She’s hurt and dying because of me.”

“Stiles, this isn’t your fault,” Allison said, her voice growing weaker.

“Sshhh,” Chris said. “Don’t talk. You need to save your strength.”

“How’re you so calm?” asked Scott, still shaken, but pressing tightly on the wound.

“This is what we do,” Chris replied simply. “We approach a situation clinically and unemotionally. It keeps us from panicking and let’s us make the best decisions.”

“That can’t be easy,” said Scott.

“I never said it was,” Chris said solemnly.

“The ambulance is on its way!” shouted Kira. “They should be here soon!”

“Will she be okay?” asked Stiles.

“I don’t know,” replied Chris. “But there’s something we all have to get straight and that’s the story. Allison was attacked by someone and stabbed by something that looked sharp. You don’t know what. You saw her collapse as her attackers fled and you came to help her. If they press you for anything else, you say, ‘It all happened so fast’, got it?

They nodded. Seconds later, they heard sirens followed by an ambulance turning around the corner. The EMTs rushed to them with a stretcher and quickly loaded Allison onto it, taking over for Scott pressing.

“Lydia, go with her,” said Scott. “You and Mr. Argent need to go with her.”

“Scott, I-,” Lydia started.

“We don’t have time to argue,” interrupted Scott. “Go!”

She nodded and ran to the ambulance to join Chris. The ambulance doors closed behind them.

“My dad knows already,” said Stiles. “He called in a police escort for us so we can get to the hospital with the ambulance.”

“Tell your dad I owe him one,” said Scott.

Stiles just nodded and he, Scott, Isaac, and Kira ran to Stiles’ jeep while Ms. Yukimura returned to her own car. Their escort was waiting for them and they sped off to the hospital.

“We’ve got an incoming level 1 trauma,” shouted one of the nurses.

“What’s the report?” asked Melissa.

“Seventeen year old female presenting with a large stab wound to the abdomen with both entry and exit wounds. She’s lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure is 85/50. Shallow respiration and is in and out of consciousness, appears to be in a daze,” replied the nurse, reading off a clipboard.

“My god,” said Melissa. “What the hell happened to her?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out how bad she really is soon enough,” said the nurse.

As soon as those words left her mouth, the EMTs barged through the front doors with Lydia and Chris running alongside them. Melissa looked and noticed Chris and Lydia first. She felt her stomach drop as she looked at the girl on the stretcher. It was Allison. Melissa felt a wave of panic and worry for a moment, but her nursing skills kicked in an instant. She was gloved and took over for the EMT applying pressure to Allison’s wound as they ran her stretcher through the hall.

“Get the OR ready and tell the doctor to get ready for emergency surgery!” shouted Melissa. “Find out her blood type and prepare blood for a transfusion. She’s going to need it if she’s going to live. Get to it!”

“Right away!” shouted one nurse.

“I’m on it!” shouted another.

Melissa always took charge of the hospital. Everyone respected her and easily followed her commands. They always got things done effectively. She rolled Allison into the prep room and began to prepare Allison for surgery, grabbing an IV apparatus and other materials. She skillfully inserted the IV needle into Allison’s wrist and began the drip. Allison weakly turned to look at her.

“Ms. McCall…” she said weakly and in a daze.

“Shhh,” soothed Melissa, taking Allison’s hand. “You’re going to be fine. You’ve got me taking care of you. You’re gonna be fine, kiddo. I promise you that.”

“Thank you,” Allison said quietly as she passed out. The anesthesia that the anesthesiologist had placed in her IV had taken effect.

Melissa hoped that she wasn’t lying when she told Allison that. Melissa donned her surgery scrubs as the others wheeled Allison into the operating room.

Scott and the others barged through the front doors of the hospital just in time to see Melissa and the other staff rushing Allison into a room. They knew they couldn’t do anything else. Stiles saw Lydia collapse into a chair, crying and breathing heavily. Stiles realized her eyes weren’t just full of worry; they were full of fear. He kneeled down in front of her, taking her hands.

“Lydia,” said Stiles. “Lydia, listen to me. You have to be strong. I know it’s hard and I know you can hear something. So, what do you hear?”

“I… I don’t know,” stammered Lydia between sobs. “It’s confusing.”

“Lydia, you can do this,” Stiles said calmly, squeezing her hand supportively. “I’m right here and I believe in you.”

Lydia looked up at him once and then back down at the ground. Then she let go and screamed. It echoed throughout the entire hospital, shaking everything. Fortunately, there wasn’t really anyone else in the hallway. They’d been caught up in dealing with Allison. Everyone else covered their ears except Stiles. He kept his eyes locked on her and didn’t moved in spite of the deafening scream.

“Better?” he asked with a small smile.

“Yeah,” she said looking up at him again. “I heard it. They’re confused. She was supposed to die, but now they don’t know. It looks like she won’t die.”

“I knew you could do it, Lydia!” said Stiles happily.

“But she could still die, Stiles,” she said. “They’re just unsure.”

“That’s better odds than we’re used to dealing with,” said Stiles.

“I guess,” said Lydia quietly.

“All we can do is wait, Lydia,” said Chris, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you. Have faith in Melissa and the doctors.”

Lydia just nodded at him. Everyone else took seats around her, huddling together to comfort and support each other.

The surgery was already underway. Allison’s vitals were critical, but stable. The surgeon on staff that night, fortunately, was their most skilled surgeon. That being said, even he was shocked by the extent of her injuries, but he set right to work.

“There’s minor damage to her small intestine, but her other vital organs seem to have been missed,” said the surgeon. “Still, this is going to be a tough one. Even if she survives surgery, I’m not sure if she’d be in the clear.”

“We’ll just have to do our best then,” replied Melissa. “We’re here until the end.”

“Alright, let’s get to it then,” said the surgeon. “Prepare the blood transfusion. She needs it desperately.”

Melissa set up the transfusion as the surgeon and other assistants got to work on repairing the damage that had been done. Melissa couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had happened to her, but she knew Scott would tell her later. She was just about to start the transfusion when she heard a sound that made her heart sink. It was the continuous monotone beep of the heart monitor indicating no pulse.

“She’s flatlining!” shouted the surgeon. “Everybody, clear! Melissa, the defibrillator!”

Melissa spurred to action immediately. There was no time to spare. Allison was already critical and any time spent like this would lessen her chance of recovery. She placed the defibrillator on Allison’s chest and activated it. There was no response. She tried again, but there was no change. She tried one more time, hoping it would work. As she pulled the paddles away, the heart monitor began to beep regularly. Her pulse had returned. Melissa and everyone else breathed a great sigh of relief. She’d made it through one hurdle, but they still had to finish the procedure. Melissa began the transfusion immediately and then returned to help the surgeon finish his work.

Hours had passed when they finally saw Melissa walking back towards them. Everyone ran to her immediately.

“Mom!” shouted Scott. “Is she going to be okay?!”

“Ms. McCall, is she alright?” asked Stiles.

“What can you tell us, Melissa?” asked Chris.

“Everyone calm down,” Melissa said calmly, waving her hand to silence them. “She made it through surgery. We managed to close her up.”

“And?” asked Lydia insistently.

“And she made it through,” said Melissa. “She’ll be waking up soon. You can’t go in to see her quite yet, but you can look in through the window.”

She lead them to Allison’s room.

Allison felt dazed. Everything was heavy and everything hurt. The world was a dark and her head was spinning. She was alive. She knew that. She’d managed to live somehow. Her eyelids began to flutter open. This is the story of Allison Argent. And this is not how it ends.

 


	10. Allison Lives

Allison’s eyes began to flutter. She was in a daze and felt weak. Her whole body felt cold and wet and her stomach was tingling. She heard voices as she drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness.

“She… gonna make…”

“Scott! I… gonna be…”

“She… not wake…”

“Give… time…”

“Look! ...eyes!”

“She’s waking up!”

“Allison! ALLISON!”

She knew who that last voice was. It was Scott. Allison finally opened her eyes to see the entire pack before her, battered, scratched, dirty, and bruised. She then realized that she was not on the ground. She looked down to see that she was being suspended in a floating sphere of glowing water as Jayce healed her.

“What is this?” asked Allison.

“Me saving you,” replied Jayce. “Water can heal remember?”

“This looks different,” she said.

“This is my strongest healing technique,” explained Jayce. “It’s called cocoon of life. I surround the injured person in water and start healing them that way. It’s really effective and can save almost anyone who’s been injured.”

“Okay, so what happened?” asked Allison. “How did we get here?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” said Scott. “But what happened was…”

* * *

Everyone heard Lydia screaming Allison’s name. But Lydia realized she was doing more than just screaming. She saw blue again and those haunting figures swirling around her. She saw the string that needed to be plucked and she pulled at it with all of her might, screaming Allison’s name louder than she’d ever screamed before. She would stop Allison’s death. The creatures’ reaction was immediate. They all turned to look at Lydia and screamed back at her, but Lydia overpowered them, her scream laced with her anger and determination, and the blue faded from her sight.

Scott saw Allison collapse as he ran towards her from across the field.  He leapt at Gerard, with a howl as soon as he was in range. Gerard knocked him aside with the flat side of his greatsword that he had retrieved from one of his hunters.

“Now, Scott, I expected better of you,” taunted Gerard. “But let’s see just how much you’ve grown.”

Scott staggered to his feet while the hunters held Lydia, Chris, and the sheriff down. Chris and the sheriff couldn’t seem to break free. Lydia knew Scott needed help, so she listened and found the sounds she needed. She screamed one more time, focusing on the three hunters holding them down. They collapsed in an unconscious heap immediately. Chris and the sheriff were on their feet in an instant, guns drawn and by Scott’s side.

Jayce had demolished most of the stone golems at this point and he turned to reassess the situation. He saw Kira, Isaac, and Derek running back to the field now that the parking lot was clear. But then he saw that Stiles was alone against Jennifer.

“Stiles, look out!” shouted Jayce, but he was too late.

“Forget about me?” said Jennifer as she slammed her palm into Stiles’ chest.

Stiles let out an oomph as the attack sent him flying across the field. Jayce shot his water towards him, catching him and placing him on the ground. Stiles was unconscious from the hit. Jayce noticed that Jennifer was walking towards them. He quickly wrapped Stiles in a sphere of water, floating in the air, and ran towards Scott.

“Scott!” shouted Jayce. “We have to go!”

Scott had seen what happened to Stiles. His heart sank. Now his best friend might be dying, too. He couldn’t protect them. The others joined up with them.

“We’ll need a chance to escape,” said Scott, trying not let his voice waver.

“We’ll give you covering fire,” said Chris. “We’ll work from there.”

Scott nodded and the sheriff and Chris opened fire on the hunters and gerard. Jayce started to shot streams of water at Jennifer, hoping to halt her approach, but she seemed to dodge every one. Isaac ran up the bleachers to retrieve Allison. She looked dead and she felt colder than she should, but Isaac heard it. He heard her heartbeat. It was very faint, but it was there.

“She’s alive…” he said. “She’s alive!”

“Then we need to hurry,” said Jayce. “If we can get her out of here, I think I can save her. But we have to withdraw now!”

“How?” asked Scott. “We’re surrounded and I don’t see any openings.”

“I don’t know, but we have to find a way,” said Jayce. “For now, we keep fighting.”

Stiles was floating in darkness. Everything seemed to hurt and his head felt light. Suddenly, he heard a voice. It sounded powerful, as if its mere sound could topple mountains, yet pleasant and familiar.

“Little one,” said the voice. “Wake up.”

“But I’m awake,” said Stiles groggily.

“No, you’re unconscious,” said the voice.

“Then how am I talking to you?” asked Stiles.

“That is an interesting question, isn’t it?” mused the voice. “I would say it’s because you’re connected to me.”

“Connected? Who are you?” asked Stiles.

“I am the tree of life,” answered the voice. “You also know me as the world tree.”

“I thought I was connected to the nemeton,” said Stiles.

“You are,” said the voice. “But the nemeton is just a representation of me. A conduit, if you will. But you and your friends are in danger, little one. It’s time you began to realize your full potential.”

“Full potential?” asked Stiles, still confused.

“You will see, little one,” replied the voice. “But you must go. Return to your friends and save them. You’ll know what to do.”

“Thanks,” said Stiles, feeling himself beginning to return to consciousness.

“You’re beginning to realize your true power, but you have no idea what that is,” said the voice, but Stiles didn’t really hear it.

Stiles heard gunfire and the sounds of combat around him. He opened his eyes, feeling power suddenly surging through him. He stood and Scott turned at the sound of his movement. Stiles wasn’t expecting the surprised and confused look on his best friend’s face.

“Stiles, your eyes,” said Scott. “They’re green.”

Stiles looked down at the metal bleachers next to him and saw his reflection. Sure enough, his eyes were no longer their usual deep brown color. They were glowing a brilliant forest green. Stiles looked at Jennifer who was being held off by Jayce and Derek. When she saw Stiles’ eyes, she stopped and moved back.

“Impossible…” she said.

Stiles remembered what the voice had told him and he knew what to do. He dropped to a knew and placed his right hand on the ground. Immediately, an enormous glowing magic circle formed below him. When Stiles spoke, his voice was different. It was laced with magic and runic power.

“O benevolent mother and guardian of the earth, hear my call. Loose thy blades and run my enemies through!” shouted Stiles.

The magic circle grew bright with every word that Stiles spoke and it began to spin beneath him. When he’d finished the incantation, the ground began to quake. Massive spears of stone began to shoot from the ground, falling back towards the hunters, Gerard, and Jennifer. The spears were rising from the ground in all directions and from everywhere around them. All of them scattered, running away from the spears and trying to avoid being skewered. It was the perfect distraction.

“Now! We need to go now!” shouted Jayce.

“Right!” exclaimed Scott, snapping out of his daze of watching his best friend wield incredible magic. “Everyone, fall back!”

“Get Allison to the car,” said Jayce as they ran. “We need to get her to a pool of water.”

“The preserve isn’t too far from the high school,” said Scott.

“That’ll work,” said Jayce. “Let’s move.”

“Uh, guys,” said Stiles, his voice wavering and sounding weak.

Scott looked back at Stiles to see his eyes were no longer glowing green and that he was about to fall over. Scott quickly caught him and carried him to his jeep.

“I can drive it,” said Jayce. “We’ll meet you there.”

Scott nodded and helped Isaac load Allison and Stiles into the car. Lydia and Isaac sat in the backseat, holding Allison. They sped towards the preserve. Allison was still bleeding, but Isaac and Lydia were doing their best to keep pressure on the wound. When they were almost there, Stiles regained consciousness. He was able to get out of the car by himself when they reached the pond in the preserve. Scott and Isaac quickly unloaded Allison and brought her to the edge of the pond while the rest of the pack gathered around.

“Now what?” asked Scott.

“She’s slipping,” said Lydia. “I can hear it.”

“Put her in the water,” said Jayce. “We’ll have to hurry, but I think I can save her.”

Scott and Isaac didn’t hesitate. They placed Allison into the water as Jayce moved forward. They stepped back to let him work.

Jayce extended his arms towards the water and breathed deeply. The entire pond began to glow with a soft blue light and then it began. Jayce began to move his arms and body in fluid swirling motions. In response, the water around Allison began to lift up and wrap around her, forming a large sphere of water. When the sphere was complete, Jayce held his hands upward towards the now levitating sphere and began to focus.

“Will it work?” asked Scott.

“Yes,” replied Jayce. “I can feel her wounds closing and her life force returning. I just need more time.”

Several minutes passed and there didn’t seem to be any change to the rest of the pack.

“She’s not going to make it,” said Scott.

“Scott! I promise she’s gonna be fine,” said Jayce.

“She’s not waking up,” added Isaac.

“Give me some time!” said Jayce, sounding exasperated.

“Look! Her eyes!” exclaimed Lydia.

Everyone looked up to see Allison’s eyelids were fluttering.

“She’s waking up!” shouted Scott excitedly.

* * *

“...and that’s pretty much everything that happened,” said Scott.

“Good storytelling there, Scotty,” shouted Stiles from the nearby tree he was sitting against.

“He pretty much said everything that happened,” said Jayce. “But she’s fully healed now.”

Jayce gently lowered Allison back to the ground and dispelled the water from around her, sending it back into the pond. When he was done, Allison was perfectly dry as if the water had never touched her. She felt her stomach and realized the wound was indeed gone.

“I should be dead though,” said Allison. “Even if you could heal me, you took a long time to get me here, not like last time.”

“I’ve been wondering about that,” said Jayce. “Everything I know says you should have died before you ever made it here.”

“Then how?” she asked.

“Because of me,” said Lydia. “For you, I was able to stop your death.”

“You can do that?” asked Stiles sounding genuinely surprised.

“My mom said the most powerful banshees are the masters of death, not just its harbinger,” explained Lydia.

“Well that could be useful,” said Isaac.

“I’m not so sure it works every time,” said Lydia. “And I don’t know if I can do it again and again or for the same person. So, I wouldn’t count on it too much.”

“Hopefully we won’t have to,” said Allison. “But thank you, Lydia. You saved my life. You all did.”

“I think we all need to get home,” said Jayce. “We’ve had a really long night and it looks like our enemies are stepping things up.”

“How’re we going to explain what happened at the school?” asked Stiles.

“Leave that one up the the authorities and the media,” said Jayce.

“I’ll think of something,” said the sheriff. “Don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stilinski,” said Scott.

With that, the pack parted ways for the night. Their first real battle had ended in a draw and they were licking their wounds, but things were far from over. They would do better next time, but the worst was yet to come.

 


	11. The Super Moon

The next day, the pack saw that the sheriff had spun the story as a massive earthquake. When asked about the flying creatures that people saw, he explained that there had been a swarm of locusts that had been disturbed by the earthquake. The pack was impressed at the sheriff’s ability to whip up a story. It seemed that the town had accepted that as truth. The pack met up at Derek’s loft in the late afternoon to discuss their next move.

“What should we do?” ask Kira. “We’ve kind of been on the defensive.”

“We need to take the fight to them,” said Allison. “We can’t just play defense. You can’t win that way.”

“We can’t kill them,” said Scott seriously.

“And if there’s no other way to stop them?” asked Stiles.

“We’ll find a way,” said Scott flatly.

Stiles sighed and said, “Yeah, I’m sure we will.”

“We have another issue coming up,” interrupted Jayce.

“What’s that?” asked Stiles.

“Tomorrow isn’t just a full moon,” answered Jayce. “It’s a super moon.”

“Super moon?” asked Scott.

“It’s when the moon is much closer to the Earth than normal,” interjected Lydia. “It happens roughly once every year and a half. I can only imagine the effect it has on werewolves.”

“She’s right,” said Derek. “During a super moon, the bloodlust werewolves experience rises even higher than it does on a normal full moon, but so does our power and strength.”

“It’s not just the werewolves I’m worried about,” said Jayce solemnly, looking down at his hands. “I told you waterbenders draw their strength from the moon, but we feel the strain to maintain control during a full moon much like the werewolves. Well, during a super moon it’s even worse.”

“Are you saying you might lose control?” asked Scott.

“I’m saying that it’s a possibility,” said Jayce. “I’ve never lost control before, even during a super moon, but the chance is always higher.”

“I think you’ll be fine,” said Scott, giving Jayce a reassuring smile.

Jayce returned the smile and replied, “Thanks, Scott.”

“We still don’t know what we’re going to do,” said Isaac.

“We’ll have to find their base,” said Allison.

“I doubt it’ll be easy to find either of them,” said Isaac.

“She never said it would be,” said Stiles.

Lydia’s expression suddenly changed. Stiles looked at her and recognized it. She was hearing the screams again.

“You might not have to wait long,” said Lydia, shifting nervously as she did so.

“What did you hear, Lydia?” asked Stiles.

“Nothing specific,” she replied. “But death is coming and it’ll be close to us somehow.”

“You don’t think they’d attack tonight, do you?” asked Jayce.

“They would both benefit from the power of the super moon,” said Derek. “It would be their best chance to come after us in person.”

“Then the question is where will they attack?” said Jayce.

“Lydia said close to us somehow,” said Scott. “I think that means one of our parents.”

“What if they go after Danny and his family?” asked Lydia. “They’re the historians. They have information they’d want.”

“We can’t cover all our bases at once,” said Jayce. “It would leave us too divided. They’d easily overpower us.”

“Well we have to decide on something!” exclaimed Stiles. “The sun’s already setting.”

“Think for a moment,” said Jayce calmly. “Where is the most likely place they would attack? What would hurt us the most while causing the most havoc?”

“I don’t know,” said Scott. “It could be any number of places.”

“No,” said Lydia. “I think you can narrow it down based on that.”

“I think Lydia’s right, Scott,” said Stiles. “Just think for a second, man. There’s only two real possibilities.”

“The hospital or the sheriff’s station,” said Scott as it clicked for him.

“I see,” said Jayce, nodding in agreement. “Both would create mass havoc as there would be a lot of people around and because taking out those places would shut down a vital service to the town. It would also mean attacking either the true alpha’s mother or the world druid’s father. It makes sense.”

“Now we just have to figure out where to-” started Scott, but he was interrupted by his phone ringing.

He saw it was his mom and answered it immediately.

“Mom?” said Scott.

“Scott!” shouted his mother, her voice laced with fear as she panted like she had been running. “You have to get here now! They’re attacking. They’re killing everyone. I think they’re trying to get to me. I think I lost them but-”

Scott heard noise in the background followed by his mom screaming. He heard the phone hit the ground.

“Mom? MOM!” shouted Scott.

A moment later, the call ended.

“We have to go!” shouted Scott.

“It sounds like they found her,” said Jayce. “Let’s hurry.”

“I’ll call my dad on the way,” said Stiles as everyone ran to their vehicles.

They reached the hospital as the sun was almost completely set. The moon was already rising in the sky. Scott, Derek, Isaac, and Jayce could already feel its influence. They saw people running out of the hospital screaming. Some of them were bloody and wounded while others weren’t. When they entered the actual hospital, they found total chaos. Blood and people, both dead and alive, littered the halls as people fled. They saw them. Hunters. The hunters were attacking and that meant Gerard was here.

Scott and Derek charged the two nearby hunters, catching them by surprise. They easily knocked them to the ground and disarmed them.

“Where is she?!” asked Scott loudly. “Where’s my mom?!”

“Like we’d tell you,” replied the hunter.

Derek grasped the other hunter’s throat with his claws and applied a little pressure. Enough to hurt, but not enough to draw blood.

“Tell us where she is or I’ll rip your throat out,” said Derek.

“She… She’s with Gerard,” said the hunter. “We don’t know where they are right now.”

“Thank you,” said Derek before punching the hunter in the face, knocking him unconscious.

Scott followed suit and knocked his hunter out as well. Scott listened for a moment and then he heard it. His mom’s screaming.

“I found her! Follow me!” exclaimed Scott as he took off running.

The pack followed behind him. The halls were all bloody, but they were surprised that they didn’t see any other hunters. Before long, they made it to the back entrance of the hospital where the ambulances unloaded patients. Scott saw Gerard climbing into a van as some other hunters loaded a bound and gagged Melissa into the back of the van. Scott ran for them, but they took off before he could reach them. He heard Gerard’s laughter as the van sped away.

“We have to follow them,” said Scott.

“We will,” said Jayce. “But we have to stay calm, Scott. This is what he wants. If you go too far, you’ll lose control.”

Scott knew Jayce was right. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his rage boiling just below the surface. It was something he was all too familiar with. He nodded, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

“You’re right,” Scott said. “But we need to go.”

“Then let’s go,” said Stiles. “We’ll find them.”

Stiles texted information about the van to his dad as they ran back to their cars. They started driving, but couldn’t seem to find it and had no idea where to begin. Scott seemed to be catching her scent, but it was all over as if they had gone around in circles to confuse them. After a few minutes, Stiles got a call from his dad who told him that the van had been spotted near the preserve. Stiles thanked his dad and the pack sped towards the preserve. Sure enough, the van was there, but it was empty.

“I have her scent clearly now,” said Scott. “Come on!”

They took off into the forest. Before long, they came to a less densely forested area. The hunters were waiting for them. Gerard stood in the distance holding Melissa.

“I think you should stop there, Scott,” said Gerard. “You wouldn’t want anything to happen to this precious mother of yours, no would you?”

“Get your hands off of her!” yelled Scott, his anger apparent.

“Oh I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement, don’t you think, Scott?” taunted Gerard.

“He wants the nemeton,” said Stiles.

“You always were the smart one,” said Gerard. “Yes, in exchange for her life, I want the nemeton.”

“And if we don’t give it to you?” asked Stiles.

“Then she dies,” replied Gerard simply. “No one wants that, now do they?”

“We can’t give him the nemeton,” said Derek.

“And we can’t let her die either,” retorted Stiles.

“Then we fight,” said Jayce. “It’s out last option. Move fast enough and we win.”

“He’s right,” said Scott. “Let’s fight!”

Scott let out a loud howl as he shifted, his crimson eyes glowing with the fire of his anger. Allison drew her bow as the werewolves charged the hunters. Kira’s eyes flashed orange as she drew her sword and ran at the nearest hunter. Stiles quickly summoned several wood imps to help them fight before leading them into the fray with his rune-encrusted bat. Jayce moved forward quickly, chambering all of his water from his backpack around him. He quickly launched several attacks.

Allison’s arrows found their marks in two nearby hunters and Jayce’s ferocious water attacks tripped up and disarmed others. Stiles and his wood imps took out a hunter near Gerard as Derek and Isaac occupied the others. Scott saw his opening and charged towards Gerard.

“Surely you didn’t think that was all the help I brought?” said Gerard smugly.

“Scott, look out!” shouted Allison.

Her warning came too late. Scott and the rest of the pack stopped fighting just in time to see that they were surrounded by hunters. Not even a second later, a volley of arrows, both explosive and traditional, came flying at them. No one avoided all of the arrows. Allison and Lydia, being at the back of the group, only took a couple. Scott took the most and fell where he stood. He wasn’t dead, but he was weakened by so many hits at once. The rest of the pack had all taken several arrows. Stiles fell to his knees as blood ran down his arms and chest. Derek, Isaac, and Kira weren’t any better than he was. Jayce had been able to use his water to stop some of the arrows, but even he had taken a few to his leg and arm.

The hunters moved in and grabbed the pack, dragging them together in the center. Gerard drug Melissa along with him as he walked toward Scott. When he reached Scott, he dropped Melissa and kicked Scott in the stomach, knocking him backwards towards the rest of the group. Scott cried out in pain. Gerard kicked him again, this time sending him flying into Stiles. They both let out a loud oomph as they collided.

“You really thought you could beat me?” asked Gerard. “You really thought you could outsmart me again? No! Not this time, Scott. I learned my lesson, but soon I’ll get what’s mine.”

Gerard stepped onto Scott’s chest, pressing one of the arrows further into him. At the same time, the pressure made Stiles’ arrows dig deeper into him. Both of them let out a cry of pain as more blood began to push out of their wounds.

“I’ll just kill you and Stiles and then take the nemeton for myself!” said Gerard. “And your mother can watch as I do it!”

Gerard drew the greatsword from his nearby hunter attendant. He raised it over his head, preparing to strike. Scott and Stiles both looked away. This couldn’t be how it ended, but it looked like it was. Scott felt Stiles grip his hand. It took most of his energy, but Scott moved to look at Stiles. He had a weak smile on his face.

“I’m with you til the end, Scotty,” said Stiles.

Scott gave Stiles a small nod as tears welled up in his eyes.

“I'm sorry, Stiles,” said Scott. “I'm so sorry.”

Stiles just smiled back at Scott comfortingly, but Scott could hear Stiles' heart racing. He was terrified, but he was going to be strong for his best friend.

"Thanks, Stiles," Scott said softly as he squeezed Stiles’ hand back.

The two of them closed their eyes and waited for the blow to come. It never did.

Scott smelled something different in the air. It was a familiar smell and it made his hair bristle and his heart race. It was anger. No, not just anger. Blind rage. The kind like when he lost control under the full moon. Scott looked up and saw the super moon was high in the sky, shining down on them. Then he realized that Gerard seemed like he couldn’t move.

“That’s enough of that,” said Jayce. “I’ll end this quickly. Well, maybe not SO quickly.”

Regaining some of his strenght, Scott turned to see Jayce was standing, arms outstretched. His voice was laced with calm, cold rage. It was terrifying. Scott realized that the smell was coming from Jayce. He was losing control.

Jayce walked forward, having already pulled out his arrows. He cocked his head to the side.

“Now, how to play with you,” said Jayce. “That is the question, now isn’t it?”

“Jayce, what’re you doing?” Scott managed to force out.

“Bloodbending,” Jayce replied simply. "The ultimate form of waterbending. The human body is seventy percent water and much of that lies in the blood. If I focus on that, I can bend it."

"Why are you just now using it?" asked Scott.

"Because it's extremely difficult to do," replied Jayce. "It's also forbidden among most waterbenders."

"I think I can see why," said Scott.

"It doesn't matter," continued Jayce. "With the super moon boosting my bending power, I can end this right now."

"Jayce, don't," said Stiles who had already figured out what Jayce was going to do.

Jayce jerked his left hand up a bit. One of the nearby hunters cried out in pain. The pack turned to look at the hunter and saw what looked like spikes of red ice erupted from the man's shoulder. It only took them a second to realize that it was blood.

"I can do more than freeze blood," said Jayce. "I can make it boil, too."

Jayce squeezed his right hand and another hunter started to scream. An area of skin on his left upper arm began to turn increasing shades of red until finally the skin itself began to bubble. Moments later, the bubbles burst. The hunter screamed in agony as boiling blood poured from the rupture in his arm, further burning his arm.

"And now, for my next trick, I'll pull the water from the cells of his body!" exclaimed Jayce, his fervor and mania obviously increasing.

Jayce pulled his right arm back towards him and water erupted from the left hand of Gerard's attendant. The attendant let out a cry of pure agony as chunks of dehydrated, dead skin  fell from his hand, revealing bone and muscle. Jayce pulled the water to form a small orb floating just above his right hand.

"There is water everywhere if you just know where to look," said Jayce as a crazed smile spread across his face.

Scott looked up at Jayce. His eyes were wild with rage. Scott knew he had to do something, so he started to pull the arrows out from him. It hurt like hell and each time he moved an arrow, more blood sprang forth, but he could feel himself healing. Meanwhile. Jayce began waving his arms around, his motions no longer smooth and fluid; they were now harsh and jerky.

"Dance, puppets, dance!" he shouted with wild glee.

The hunters began to move seemingly on their own, drawing their weapons and pointing them at each other. With another wave of Jayce's arms, they all fired on each other. Shouts of pain and dismay filled the air. Jayce turned his attention to Gerard.

"And now for you," said Jayce. "For all the pain and suffering you've caused, you deserve a slow and painful death. I'll happily oblige."

Jayce made a jerking motion with his hands and spikes of blood shot out of Gerard's body. Scott had finally finished removing enough of his arrows to stand.  He moved slowly towards Jayce.

"Jayce, you have to calm down," said Scott. "You're losing control."

"I've never been in more control," retorted Jayce. "Such power... And I can end this all right now! We can win here!"

"This isn't how we do things."

"And why not?! So he can hurt and kill more people? No. It ends now."

"Jayce, remember what you told me. Waterbenders have to maintain balance in themselves. You have to get back to that."

"I don't need balance. I'm fine. You know, if you get in my way, Scott, I'll just get rid of you, too."

"Jayce, you don't mean that you have to-"

Scott was cut off as he could no longer move. Jayce had extended an arm towards him. Jayce was bloodbending Scott now.

"Shut up," said Jayce. "I'll destroy all of you."

The scent of his rage and bloodlust was so heavy it was almost suffocating to Scott. It permeated his mind and thoughts. Scott felt himself starting to lose control as well. Suddenly, memories came flooding back to him. Memories of Stiles and all the times they'd spent together since they were little kids. He didn't have Allison as an anchor anymore, but he could always rely on Stiles to pull him back. He snapped out of it and unleashed the loudest howl of his life. It resounded throughout the forest. Jayce turned to look at Scott. Scott's burning red eyes burned into Jayce's ice blue eyes as Scott continued to howl. Scott saw the boundless rage vanish from Jayce's eyes. Scott breathed heavily after the howl, but he smiled at Jayce.

Jayce's expression become horrified as the realization of what he'd done set in. He flung his arms away from himself, releasing all of the hunters and Gerard, sending them flying backwards. Jayce collapsed to his knees, looking only at the ground.

"Leave, Gerard," said Scott. "Go now while you still can. See to yourself and your men."

Gerard glared at Scott, a burning hatred in his eyes, but he was bleeding badly, too. He motioned to his hunters and they made a hasty retreat while a couple of them helped Gerard to escape. With them running Scott turned to the rest of the pack. They were finally seeing to their injuries. Allison and Stiles were helping everyone remove their arrows while Lydia helped Melissa out of her bonds. Seeing that everyone was being attended to, Scott turned back to Jayce and sat down in front of him.

"Jayce, are you okay, dude?" asked Scott.

Jayce continued to look at the ground, unresponsive.

"Jayce, answer me," pleaded Scott.

"I've never lost control before," said Jayce flatly. "I've never come that close to not coming back. I've never used bloodbending before. For waterbenders, it's the ultimate taboo. Scott, I literally just did all of the worst things a waterbender can do at once."

"Yeah, but if you hadn't, I'd be dead and so would Stiles," said Scott with a comforting smile. "You may have lost control, but you saved us. And you came back."

"Scott, I used bloodbending on you, too."

"But you stopped."

"Only thanks to you."

"You were the one who told me it would take someone else to pull you back if you went too far. Trust me, Jayce, I know exactly what that's like."

"Thanks, Scott,:" said Jayce, finally looking up at Scott as a small smile crossed his face. "I'll do better, I promise."

"You'll be just fine, man," said Scott. "But I think we're going to need your help. Not all of us can heal quickly."

Scott gestured towards the rest of the group. Derek, Isaac, and Kira were already healing, but Allison, Lydia, Melissa, and Stiles were all still hurt and bleeding. Stiles in particular was covered in blood and was looking particularly lightheaded.

"Think you can help them out?" asked Scott.

"Of course!" said Jayce as he pulled water from the ground and nearby grass.

He started with Stiles who was the most severely injured and made his way through everyone, healing them fully. The process went much faster than normal thanks to the added power of the super moon. When he was done, Jayce sat down and took a deep breath. Healing so many people so fast took a lot of energy.

"Hey, guys, I'm sorry about that," said Jayce soberly. "I shouldn't have lost control like I did. What I did was terrible."

"It's alright, man," said Stiles. "You saved us in the end."

"Trust me, if anyone understands losing control, especially under a full moon, it's us," said Derek. "We've all struggled with that."

"What's important is you were able to come back," said Allison.

"Yeah," chimed in Kira. "Like Stiles said, you really saved us."

"Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it," said Jayce, a small smile finally crossing his face. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Sounds good to me!" said Scott, slapping Jayce on the back.

"If it happens again, find your anchor," said Melissa. "Something that grounds you and pulls you back. That's how they do it."

"And if I don't have anything?" asked Jayce.

"Then be your own anchor," replied Melissa. "It's the same advice I gave Scott."

"And it's really good advice," said Scott, giving his mom a huge smile.

"We should get going though," said Melissa. "It's late and I have a feeling I've got quite a mess to deal with at the hospital."

"Are you sure you have to go back?" asked Scott.

"Scott, you saw what happened there," she replied. "You know they're going to need all the help they can get."

"Besides, you know that place would fall apart without her, Scott," said Stiles.

"Yeah, I guess so," sighed Scott. "Well, we'll give you a ride back, mom. We can help, too."

"Oh, no you won't," said Melissa. "You need to go home and rest. Let me and the sheriff handle this, okay?"

"But, mom, we-" started Scott.

"This isn't up for discussion, Scott!" said Melissa. "You can drop me off, but then go home. We'll be fine. I don't think they're going to attack again."

"Alright, we'll drop you off and go," resigned Scott.

"Good," said Melissa. "Then let's get going.

Everyone climbed back into their various vehicles and made their way to the hospital. It was still chaos when they arrived. The sheriff greeted them when they arrived and ran Melissa straight into the fray. As they were running off, he echoed Melissa's command to go home and rest.

"Anyone else feeling a little on edge right now?" asked Lydia.

"Maybe a little," said Stiles.

"Why?" ask Jayce.

"We've been through a lot," said Lydia. "And I know I'm a bit worried. I think the rest of you are, too. Why don't we all stay together tonight?"

"I think that's a good idea actually," said Scott.

"My loft's closest," suggested Derek. "I've got extra blankets and pillows."

"That works for me," said Scott. "Any objections?"

Everyone shook their heads, so they made their way to Derek's loft. They picked up some Chinese food on the way since they hadn't had dinner yet and ate it at the loft. They all set up camp in the main area of his loft. It didn't take long for everyone to pass out. The day had certainly taken its toll on them. Melissa had been right. They definitely needed to rest.


	12. A Man In The Shadows

Gerard stumbled into his rather large study back at his base. He leaned against a wall as he coughed up some black blood. It hurt, but he could feel the wounds on his back closing, albeit slowly. In the meantime, blood continued to drop from the wounds and onto the ground. Suddenly, Gerard heard footsteps coming from further inside the study. He looked up to see who the intruder was.

A man in a perfectly fitted black suit moved in the shadows of the room, his face out of sight. Gerard recognized the man. He was his backer.

"I see you were unsuccessful," said the man. "And even under a super moon. I expected better."

"I don't see you out there risking your life," retorted Gerard indignantly.

"But this is your venture and want, isn't it? I'm just an investor. A benefactor even. All I want is a return on investment," replied the man.

"You've given me money, but nothing else," said Gerard.

"Really? Nothing else? Didn't I help you track down your allies, former Argent hunters, and mercenaries?" asked the man, the irritation apparent in his voice.

"Yes, well..." started Gerard.

"Face it, Gerard," continued the man, interrupting Gerard. "You lost most of your connections along with the Argent family fortune when you took the bite. Without me, you'd still be sitting in a nursing home, coughing up black goo for the rest of eternity. I've given you the chance you need to get back on top. Is this how you plan to waste it?"

"I don't lose," said Gerard, his anger bubbling to the surface. "I know you've helped me, but I won't stand here and let myself be berated by someone like you."

"Very well then," said the man coolly as he began to walk back into the shadows, his black leather dress shoes making soft footsteps as he went. "Just remember, Gerard. I always get a return on my investment. ALWAYS."

Gerard was about say something, but the footsteps stopped. The man was gone once again. Gerard allowed himself to collapse into a chair, cursing himself for ever allying himself with that man. He knew he had little other choice than to side with the man, but that didn't wound his pride any less. It wouldn't matter though. Before long, he'd have control of the nemeton and then he'd be able to fix himself and gain the power that he had always craved. This nameless man that he'd allied himself with was nothing more than a means to an end. Gerard coughed and more black goo came with it. He decided that he should retire for the night.

* * *

Jennifer was relaxing in her living room. She wasn't stupid enough to go after the pack during a super moon. She may be at her most powerful, but so were they. She decided it was best not to test her luck. Plus, she figured Gerard would try and fight them anyway and the last thing she needed was to be fighting both of her enemies at once. With any luck, one would destroy the other tonight, making her life a lot easier. She smiled malevolently at the thought.

The smile faded as she heard footsteps behind her. A moment later, a voice followed.

"Good evening, Jennifer," said the voice. "Taking the night off?"

"What business is it of yours?" she asked calmly.

"Considering I am your sole investor and backer, I think it's an important part of my business," the voice replied.

Jennifer stood and turned to face the voice. The man's face was shrouded in shadow, but he still wore his trademark perfectly fitted black suit. It was him, her backer.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to go after them when they're at the strongest," explained Jennifer. "On top of that, I'd rather not fight both Scott's pack and Gerard's hunters."

"Hmm. A logical explanation I suppose," replied the man. "Were you hoping one would wipe out the other if they fought?"

"That would be ideal, but I doubt I'd be so lucky," she replied.

"I knew I liked you," said the man. "So calm and calculating. That's why I'm backing you."

"And I appreciate that, but I still don't know what you hope to gain," said Jennifer.

"Oh, don't worry. I always get a return on my investment," said the man slyly.

"What are you planning?" pressed Jennifer.

"Nothing," he replied. "You seizing the nemeton's power benefits me, too. It's as simple as that. Besides, haven't you been pleased with the reagents I've provided for you?"

"Yes, they've been very helpful," answered Jennifer.

"Well, until next time then," said the man as he began to walk off.

A moment later his footsteps had vanished along with him. Jennifer didn't trust him, but she knew this would be impossible without his help. She didn't have the money or the means to gather the reagents she needed. Once she had the nemeton's power, he wouldn't be a problem anymore. She took her seat again, a small smile crossing her face. Yes, she was sure she was on the right path to victory.

* * *

The mysterious man walked into his own estate having finished his business for the night. He took a seat in a large leather chair in front of his fireplace. The light danced across his ebony leather gloves and shoes. He crossed one leg over the other as an evil smile spread across his face. He was backing both Gerard and Jennifer and neither of them had a clue. Everything was coming together perfectly.

 


	13. Darkness Falls

The pack woke up late the next day. They were really worn out after last night’s fight. Scott called his mom to check on her while Isaac went to fix everyone something for lunch. Scott was relieved that his mom was fine and that the hospital had made a quick recovery with the help of the sheriff and his deputies. Scott and the others went into the kitchen, but Stiles and Lydia stayed behind in the loft’s main room for a moment. When everyone was gone, Stiles finally spoke.

“You feel it, too, don’t you?” asked Stiles.

“Feel what?” asked Lydia, her voice ever so slightly unsteady.

“I don’t exactly know how to describe it,” said Stiles. “It’s just a feeling of foreboding. Like I’m waiting for something that I know is coming, but it’s just not here yet.”

“Like a calm before a storm,” offered Lydia.

“Yeah, exactly,” said Stiles.

“Stiles,” said Lydia, trying to hide the slight shake in her voice. “I think things are going to get really bad soon.”

“Worse than getting our asses handed to us and only being saved by Jayce losing his mind?” asked Stiles.

“Yes,” she replied simply. “Something worse than that. I think it’ll be a turning point. What we do will decide the fate of everything.”

“I didn’t think you were psychic, Lydia,” said Stiles.

“I’m not, but I can hear it,” Lydia said. “They aren’t sure what’s going to happen. Both paths are dark and shrouded in death, but one seems to end in calamity while the other ends in salvation.”

“So they really don’t know?” asked Stiles.

“No, they don’t,” answered Lydia. “And it scares them.”

“It scares me, too,” said Stiles quietly.

Lydia just nodded in response. Scott poked his head through the doorway suddenly.

“Hey! Are you two coming?” shouted Scott excitedly. “Isaac made everyone sandwiches!”

“Yeah, we’re coming!” replied Stiles.

Scott just beamed at Stiles before darting back into the kitchen.

“He’s still the same as ever,” said Lydia, shaking her head.

“Well, that’s Scott for you,” said Stiles, smiling in spite of himself. “The dude always finds a way to smile.”

“He doesn’t know what’s coming,” said Lydia.

“No, I think he does actually,” said Stiles, his smile fading. “He just wants to pretend for a while longer to boost everyone’s spirits.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Lydia.

“We should join them,” said Stiles.

“Yeah, let’s go,” said Lydia.

Stiles and Lydia hurried into the kitchen to join the others. Isaac had prepared an array of sandwiches. There were roast beef, turkey, and ham with various cheeses on them as well as peanut butter and jelly. The pack quickly grabbed their sandwiches and started eating. They were starving since they’d missed breakfast and it was now later in the afternoon. Everyone seemed relaxed and was having a good time being with each other. It was a lot like the pizza party they had before things started going to shit. Stiles glanced over at Scott and their eyes met. For a moment, he saw the heaviness and sadness in Scott’s eyes, but it faded quickly. Stiles was right. Scott knew what was coming. He smiled encouragingly and nodded at his best friend who did the same back to him.

Having finished their lunch, the pack moved back to the main room of the loft to relax on the blankets that they still hadn’t picked up from the night before. Stiles moved over next to Scott.

“I know, Stiles,” said Scott before Stiles could even speak. “I know something bad’s going to happen soon and it’s driving me crazy that I don’t know what, where, or when.”

“I know. Lydia and I can feel it,” said Stiles. “It’s not a fun feeling to have.”

“What am I supposed to do, Stiles?” asked Scott, sounding almost defeated. “How am I supposed to fight both of them? How am I going to protect everyone?”

“Hey, hey, Scott, you can’t talk like that,” scolded Stiles as he rolled over onto his side to look at Scott. “You’re the alpha and I’m your emissary. More importantly, I’m your best friend. We can get through anything together, man. We always have and we always will. I told you, I’m with you til the end.”

Scott’s expression softened as he turned to look at Stiles and said, “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll find a way. I’ve got you and everyone else by my side. We’ve got this.”

“It’ll be tough, but we’ll make it through,” said Stiles.

“Definitely,” said Scott. “Thanks, Stiles. I needed that.”

“Anytime, bro,” said Stiles with a smile.

Suddenly, alarms went off in Stiles’ head. Images flashed inside his mind. He saw hunters, wood imps, ents, Gerard, and Jennifer. They were in combat. No, not just in combat. They were attacking something in particular. Then it came into view. They were attacking the nemeton’s barrier and it was beginning to break.

“Stiles, what’s wrong?” asked Scott.

“They’re attacking the nemeton,” said Stiles urgently. “They’re trying to break through my barrier!”

“Is that even possible?” asked Kira.

“Yeah, if they apply enough force and attack power,” said Stiles.

“We need to get there. Now,” said Derek.

Without further delay, everyone made a mad dash for their vehicles and they sped off towards the preserve and the nemeton. When they reached the edge of the preserve, they got out and took off running towards the nemeton. They arrived to a scene of absolute chaos. Hunters, wood imps, ents, and other summonings were locked in combat with each other while also attacking the barrier. Gerard and Jennifer were on opposite sides of the barrier, staring each other down as they attacked the barrier themselves.

“What do we do?” asked Allison.

“I’ve got an idea,” said Stiles as his eyes began to glow emerald green again. “Hey! Get away from my barrier! O benevolent mother and guardian of the earth, hear my call. Loose thy blades and run my enemies through!”

As he spoke, the magic circle appeared beneath him like last time. When he was done, spears of rock erupted from the ground, striking and bashing the hunters and Jennifer’s familiars. That seemed to get their attention as they had stopped attacking the barrier and turned their attention to the pack.

“Guess it’s time to fight,” said Isaac.

“Go!” shouted Scott as he shifted.

Derek and Isaac both let out a roar as they shifted and charge the enemy, Scott following close behind. Stiles fell back to a position in front of Allison. From there, he began to cast long range spells, tripping the enemies with vines or shooting more spears at them. He also summoned a legion of wood imps to aid in the assault. Allison took her position and began expertly taking out her enemies with her bow and arrow. Lydia, not wanting to be on the sidelines anymore, stepped forward. She focused on a group of hunters aiming at Scott and Derek and then screamed. They collapsed immediately, unconscious. Scott turned around in time to see them collapse and to see Lydia give a sly smile and a small shrug towards him. He flashed her a quick smile before rejoining the melee with Derek and Isaac.

Kira leapt in with her sword slashing and her eyes burning a bright orange. She sliced through several ents as if they were nothing. She’d gotten used to fighting them after the Battle of Beacon Hills High. She knew how they’d fight, so she was able to easily take them down.

Jayce focused on the outlying hunters. They seemed to be snipers since they were set so far back from everyone else. Jayce knew they had to be taken down quickly because the rest of the pack would be defenseless against them. He hurled twin streams of water from his water backpack at the closest snipers, sending them flying back. He knocked one into a trees where he collapsed and he froze another against a nearby tree, immobilizing him. He moved on to the next set of snipers.

Scott, Isaac, and Derek worked as a tag team. They kept switching off opponents, confusing their enemies and giving them the element of surprise even in close combat. Scott was amazed at how smoothly they flowed together. Scott slashed through another wood imp just in time to switch with Derek. He charged the hunter Derek was fighting with just as Derek hopped back to take down Isaac’s enemy from behind. Scott tackled the hunter to the ground and clocked him hard in the head, knocking him out instantly. Derek knocked his hunter off balance and proceeded to throw him into the barrier where he received a shock from the magical energy as well as the force of the collision. He collapsed unconscious instantly. Isaac knocked the crossbow out of the hands of his hunter. He followed up by grabbing the hunter’s wrist and tossing him at a nearby tree. The three of them nodded at each other quickly before moving on to new enemies.

Stiles noticed that Gerard and Jennifer had resumed their attacks on the barrier with the help of some of their minions. Stiles could tell his barrier was getting very weak. It couldn’t take much more of this. He took off for Gerard.

“Scott!” shouted Stiles. “They’re attacking the barrier! Handle Jennifer. I’ve got Gerard.”

“On it!” Scott replied as he broke off from his group to run towards Jennifer who was not far from him.

Stiles reached Gerard and brandished his bat.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said Stiles.

“Have you now?” taunted Gerard. “Well, first you’ll have to get through my men. I’m a bit busy, you see.”

Gerard’s men stepped in between Stiles and Gerard as Gerard continued his attack on the barrier. Stiles glared at them.

“I don’t have time for this,” Stiles said.

He banged his bat on the ground and vines shot forth from the ground, wrapping themselves around the hunters. Some of them managed to avoid the vines, but Stiles was already moving. Before they could react, he was on top of them with his bat. He bashed the first hunter over the head as he spun to slam his bat into the abdomen of the net closest hunter. The unfortunate hunter let out a loud gasp of air as he was sent flying backward. With the hunters dispatched, Stiles made his way towards Gerard.

Scott reached Jennifer quickly. He roared at her when he was close enough. She turned to face him.

“I don’t have time to play with you, Scott,” said Jennifer. “I have more important things to worry about. But don’t worry. My familiars will keep you entertained.”

As soon as she said that, a group of wood imps and ents descended upon Scott. Scot started with the wood imps. They were small and much easier to stop. He hooked one with his claws and used it to bash several of the others wood imps before throwing it into the barrier where it incinerated on contact. Scott turned just in time to see two ents attacking him from either side. At the last second, he dove forward, causing the two ents to impale themselves on each others spears. Scott quickly finished off the last few wood imps with a few well placed slashes before engaging the last ent.

This ent was more cautious. It didn’t charge Scott outright. It waited. When Scott moved towards it, it moved, too. It stabbed at Scott with its spear. It was fast and Scott could barely dodge the strikes. One finally grazed Scott’s side, but he paid it no mind and instead kicked the ent’s leg, knocking it to the ground and dropping its spear in the process. Scott grabbed the ent’s spear and quickly shoved it through the head of the ent. With all of the enemies out of the way, Scott approached Jennifer.

Stiles was almost on Gerard. He raised his bat in preparation to strike.

“It’s over, Gerard!” shouted Stiles.

“I think you’re too late, Stiles,” replied Gerard smugly as he moved to bang his sword one more time against the barrier.

Stiles noticed there was something on Gerard’s sword. It had been coated in something. He took a quick glance at the barrier and saw the cracks in the circle. That last hit from Gerard might just break it. Stiles rushed forward, swinging his bat down as he did.

“Jennifer!” shouted Scott.

“I’m afraid you’re too late, Scott,” said Jennifer, smiling malevolently. “I’ve already won.”

Jennifer dipped her hands into two pouches on her belt. When she removed them, her claws were covered in something. She didn’t hesitate. She went to hit the barrier with all her might. Scott ran towards her, hoping he could reach her in time.

Neither of them reached their targets in time to stop them. When Gerard’s sword and Jennifer’s claws collided with the barrier, they produced and explosion. The liquid that they had coated their weapons in ignited on contact with the barrier. The barrier shattered immediately. The sudden collapse and release of magical power sent out a shockwave in all directions, sending everyone flying backwards, including Gerard and Jennifer. Allison who has been the furthest away saw it coming and was able to pull herself and Lydia down, avoiding the brunt of the shockwave, but even they were hurt by it. Derek, Isaac, and Kira were sent flying into nearby trees where they collapsed, though they remained conscious. Jayce was caught in the blast while he was in the middle of bending, leaving him in an awkward position. He twirled through the air like a ragdoll swept up by a tornado. He landed just shy of hitting a large tree. He groaned in pain, but was thankful he had missed the tree. Scott and Stiles took the full force of the shockwave as they were inches from the barrier. The blast sent them flying hard into two nearby trees. They slumped down as they hit the ground, not really able to move after such a hit.

Stiles looked up to see the state of things. Everyone, both enemies and allies, were strewn around the area, not really able to move much. His barrier was gone and the nemeton was exposed. Stiles smiled though. It looked like both Jennifer and Gerard were too hurt to actually try anything right now. He’d take that small victory. That’s when he noticed a flash of movement.

Stiles looked back at the nemeton. A man dressed in an all black suit and black leather gloves stood in front of the nemeton. Stiles didn’t know why, but he knew this was bad. His heart started pounding. He had to stop the man, but his body wouldn’t move.

“What’re you doing?!” shouted Gerard. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“How do you know him?” asked Jennifer. “He was backing me.”

“No, he was backing me!” exclaimed Gerard.

“Haven’t you two figured it out yet?” asked the man nonchalantly. “I was backing both of you. You two were just pawns in my little game.”

“Pawns?” asked Jennifer. “You just used us to get the nemeton for yourself.”

“Yes,” answered the man. “You see, I didn’t want to go through the trouble of dealing with fighting either of you or with the pack over there. Too much work and too tedious for my tastes.”

“I won’t let you have the nemeton,” said Stiles.

“My dear boy, there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” said the man, finally turning to face them.

As he stepped out of the shadows, his face was visible for the first time. The man was very pale and almost looked like a ghost. His eyes were bright red and his slicked back hair was silver. Stiles tried to get up, but just couldn’t find the strength. He saw Scott trying to crawl his way towards him, but he was barely moving.

“You…” said Jennifer in shock as she recognized the man. “I know you. You’re Rhys, the White Druid!”

“I’m glad to see my reputation precedes me,” replied the man. “Yes, I am Rhys. Not that it matters very much that you know.”

“Why?” asked Jennifer.

“Why? The same reason as the two of you. I want power,” replied Rhys as he turned to face the nemeton once again. “Now, I’ll take what’s mine.”

“Stop!” shouted Stiles.

Rhys didn’t even acknowledge Stiles. He simply strode confidently towards the nemeton. When he had finally reached it, he pulled back his right hand and then shoved it into the nemeton. His hand pierced the nemeton without any trouble. When he did, Stiles felt as if he had just been stabbed through the stomach. A strange black light began to pour out of the nemeton and swirl around the area. The nemeton itself appeared to darken in color. Rhys removed his hand and turned to face Stiles. Stiles felt his power slipping from him. The bright green glow faded from Stiles eyes as Rhys’ eyes began to glow a deep purple, almost black, hue, similar to the light that was pouring out of the nemeton.

“You two have been such good pawns,” said Rhys, addressing Gerard and Jennifer. “But I’m afraid you’re no longer of use to me, so, like all pawns, you must be sacrificed.”

Rhys raised one hand towards Gerard and the other towards Jennifer. What looked like a giant tree root with a very sharp point erupted from the ground and rushed towards Gerard and Jennifer respectively. The roots shot through their heads and through the trees that they were laying against splattering blood and brain matter everywhere. The roots retreated back into the ground. Gerard and Jennifer collapsed, their lifeless eyes frozen in shock as blood continued to drain from their wounds.

Stiles felt cold and numb. It felt like a part of himself had been ripped away. Now darkness was flooding in. Memories of things he did as the nogitsune, the guilt he felt from it all, everything he’d put his dad through. It was overwhelming. Then he felt warmth. It was Scott. He’d finally managed to crawl over to Stiles and had his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. It made things a little better, but he knew he must look as bad or worse than he felt when he looked at Scott and saw the concern in his eyes.

Scott looked at Stiles. His eyes were dull and almost lifeless. Scott had never seen Stiles like this before, not even when the nogitsune was possessing him. He knew he had to get Stiles out of there. He grabbed Stiles’ hand.

“Come on, Stiles,” said Scott. “We have to move.”

“I don’t think I can,” replied Stiles dully.

“Then I’ll carry you. Here take-” started Scott, but he was interrupted.

Rhys raised his hands towards the sky and the black light that had been coming from the nemeton shot into the sky. The darkness began to overtake the sky, blocking out the bright afternoon sun. Before long, all of Beacon Hills was shrouded in darkness. Rhys turned to face the pack.

“Now, the rest of you, begone!” exclaimed Rhys. “Suffer with your friends and family as I turn the world to darkness.”

Rhys flung his right hand out, unleashing a wave of magical energy. It sent the pack and all of the remaining hunters flying through the air. As they tumbled through the air, they saw thick vines began to form walls surrounding the nemeton. He was making it his fortress. The pack landed at the edge of the preserve, rolling and tumbling on the ground as they landed hard.

“Is everyone alright?” asked Jayce. “Do I need to try and heal anyone right now?”

“I think we’re all banged up, but not in any danger right now,” answered Allison.

“I think there’s something wrong with Stiles,” said Scott, sounding worried.

Everyone looked over at Stiles and saw exactly what Scott was talking about. They’d never seen him like that before.

“We should take him to Deaton,” suggested Allison. “He might know what’s going on.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” said Scott.

“Let’s get going,” said Jayce. “We don’t have any time to waste.”


	14. Saving Stiles

The pack made their way to Deaton’s clinic. Lydia drove Stiles’ Jeep because no one else knew how to drive a stick. She told them that she’d read it somewhere. Deaton was waiting for them when they arrived.

“What happened?” asked Deaton. “I don’t like the looks of that black sky.”

“We were trying to protect the nemeton, but they broke Stiles’ barrier anyway. Then some guy appeared out of nowhere and shoved his hand into the nemeton. Then all this started happening,” replied Scott. “And then this started happening to Stiles. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

“You mentioned a man,” said Deaton. “Who was it?”

“I think Jennifer called him Rhys,” answered Scott.

“Rhys? He’s here? Then I’m not too surprised,” said Deaton, his face growing serious. “He’s a dangerous darach. They call him the White Druid because of his albinism, though no one is sure if that’s because of his genes or because of his experimentation with black magic.”

“But what about Stiles?” asked Scott, his voice full of concern.

“I think his connection to the nemeton has been severed,” said Deaton. “Or at least polluted.”

“I’m right here, you know,” said Stiles. “I can’t feel it anymore. The world tree. The nemeton. Nature. None of it. It’s just… gone. And it feels like it took part of me with it.”

“Being a world druid and having that connection was an integral part of you, Stiles,” said Deaton. “It hurts to have that ripped away, but you’re still here and you’re still you.”

“I don’t feel like me,” said Stiles. “To be honest, I don’t feel much of anything.”

“It’ll probably take him a little time to recover from this,” said Deaton. “But he’ll be ok.”

“Something tells me we don’t have very much time,” said Lydia.

“She’s right,” said Scott.

“Then it’s up to you to bring him out of it,” said Deaton, looking directly at Scott. “Physically, he will be fine. The rest is up to you.”

“Thanks, Deaton,” said Scott.

“I will say this. If what you said is true, then I don’t think Rhys is going to do anything yet,” said Deaton. “He’s going to want to acquaint himself with his newfound power and build up his energy to attack. He never does anything unless he is fully prepared. When he attacks, it will be with a careful plan and with his full power.”

“But you’re saying we have some time then,” said Derek.

“Yes, but I don’t know how much,” answered Deaton.

“Some is better than none,” said Scott. “Come on. Let’s go. Stiles, you’re staying with me tonight, alright?”

Stiles just nodded, his eyes still distant, and took Scott’s hand to help him back to the car. Lydia gave Stiles a hug before she left with Kira and Allison. Derek placed his hand comfortingly on Stiles’ shoulder and nodded at him before walking off with Isaac who was going to be staying at his loft for the night. Jayce was the last one left.

“Scott, I know it goes without saying, but let me know if you two need anything, okay?” said Jayce. “I’m sure that goes for the whole pack.”

“I know. Thanks, Jayce,” said Scott.

Jayce nodded before climbing into his own car and heading home. Scott and Stiles climbed onto Scott’s motorbike. Stiles wrapped his arms tightly around Scott’s chest and sort of leaned against Scott’s back. Sure that Stiles was secure, Scott took off for home. Stiles still felt cold and detached, but Scott’s warmth spread to him, even if it was only temporary.

When they got home, Melissa wasn’t there. She was working a night shift. Probably for the best as neither of them felt like explaining what had happened to her. They went to the living room and watched some TV for a while, but Scott could tell Stiles just really wasn’t into it.

“Stiles, talk to me,” said Scott. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, Scott,” he said. “It’s like I said. It feels like a part of me was ripped off. I had a connection and now it’s gone. I was finally useful to you and the pack and now I’m not. I’m just a burden again.”

“Stiles, you were never a burden and you’ve always been a help to us,” said Scott.

“Have I? What about when the nogitsune possessed me? What about the times people used me to get to you because I was weak and couldn’t stop them? What about all of that, Scott?” asked Stiles.

“Stiles, none of that is your fault. You know that.”

“I almost killed Allison!”

“Stiles, the nogitsune wasn’t even possessing you then!”

“But if I had been stronger, it wouldn’t have possessed me. They wouldn’t have gotten to you through me. You wouldn’t have to keep protecting me. I… I really enjoyed being able to finally do the things you could do. I could help you and fight by your side. Now I can’t.”

“You know that stuff isn’t important to me. I care about YOU, Stiles, not your usefulness or something stupid like that. You’re my best friend for a reason and it’s not based on your usefulness to me.”

“Yeah, but-”

Stiles was cut off by Scott suddenly pulling him into a hug. Stiles wasn’t expecting it, but it made him feel better. He felt himself relax in Scott’s arms as he squeezed his best friend back. Stiles hadn’t even realized how tense he’d been until he relaxed.

“No buts,” said Scott softly. “We’re in this together, okay? If you’re going to go down this path, I’m going with you.”

Stiles sighed. He knew Scott wouldn’t let him blame himself like this and he appreciate it. Ultimately, he knew that Scott was right, but he just couldn’t make himself believe or accept that for some reason. Not yet anyway.

“Scott, there’s something else, too,” said Stiles as they finally released each other. “Ever since it happened, I’ve been having flashbacks. Memories of the things I did as the nogitsune have been flooding back to me. And just an overwhelming feeling of guilt. There’s no logic to it, it just is.”

“That has to be because of the darkness flowing into the nemeton,” said Scott. “Some of it must have flowed into you.”

“Knowing that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“But it brings us closer to helping you.”

“I guess. It’s just overwhelming.”

“I know it is, man, but I’m here with you. I’ll always be here, okay?”

“I know. Thanks, Scott. It’s getting a little late. Mind if we go ahead and crash?”

“Yeah, sure. We can share my bed like when we were kids.”

Stiles just nodded and the two walked upstairs to Scott’s room. They settled in for the night. Scott’s left arm brushed against Stiles as Scott settled himself in the bed and a sudden warmth spread through Stiles, but it faded quickly. Stiles shrugged it off and pulled the covers over himself and Scott. It felt nice to be back here, like a return to how things used to be. He liked it and, for a moment, he felt secure.

“Good night, Stiles,” said Scott.

“Night, Scott,” said Stiles sleepily, already and the verge of passing out.

A few moments later, both of them were asleep.

Nightmares returned to Stiles. He found himself stabbing Allison with a sword. It caught him by surprise. Stiles looked down to see himself dressed like an oni as blood dripped from Allison’s abdomen. The surprised expression on her face pained him. Then he noticed the nogitsune version of himself moving in the shadows, smirking at him. Stiles went to move towards him, but the scene melted away and a new one formed. Now he was reliving stabbing Scott. The pain on his face was just as vivid as it had been that night. Stiles couldn’t take this. He screamed and the scene faded again. He was at the hospital where the oni were relentlessly killing everyone they came into contact with. Then he heard the voice. A voice he never thought he’d hear again.

“It’s all your fault, Stiles,” said the nogitsune. “All these people suffered and died because of you.”

“Shut up,” said Stiles, with a strained voice.

“Let’s not forget this scene,” said the nogitsune.

A new scene unfolded. Stiles was running towards Lydia on the football field. He remembered this. This was where he couldn’t save Lydia from Peter. Once again, he didn’t reach her in time. He failed again.

“Never able to protect those you care about,” taunted the nogitsune. “So weak.”

“You’re not real. You’re dead. You’re just in my head,” said Stiles.

“Who’s to say that means I’m not real?” asked the nogitsune.

Stiles felt the coldness taking him again. It spread throughout his body. His mind was becoming trapped in a spiral of depressive thoughts, each one propagating the spiral and accelerating it. He couldn’t break free. He collapsed to his knees. Suddenly, he felt warmth again and heard a familiar voice.

“Stiles! Snap out of it!” shouted Scott.

Stiles looked behind him in disbelief. There in front of him was Scott. But how? This was his dream. How was Scott here?

“It’s just a dream, Stiles,” said Scott, placing a hand on Stiles’ right shoulder. “Take control of it.”

Strength and warmth spread through Stiles when Scott placed his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. Filled with newfound strength, Stiles looked back at the nogitsune with a determined look. A moment later, the nogitsune shattered along with the rest of the dreamscape, giving way to a bright white light.

Stiles shot upright and so did Scott. They looked at each other.

“Were you…” started Stiles.

“I think so,” answered Scott.

“But how?”

“I have no idea.”

“The nemeton did say we were linked. Maybe it was that.”

“Maybe. Speaking of which, my tattoo’s been feeling really hot.”

“That’s weird. Let me see it.”

Scott showed the tattoo on his left arm to Stiles, but there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. It was just the same two black lines that he’d had for a while now. Stiles reached out and touched the tattoo with his fingers. Immediately, a wave of warmth ran through his entire body, but it seemed to concentrate on his own tattoo. Scott seemed to notice, too.

“What’s going on?” asked Scott.

“I don’t know, but the tattoos are a sign of our bond, so maybe…” said Stiles, trailing off.

Stiles took Scott’s left hand and placed it on his own tattoo while he kept his right hand on Scott’s tattoo. The effect was immediate. A surge of green energy surged down their arms and stopped at Stiles’ tattoo. A moment later, a puff of dark purple energy was released from Stiles’ tattoo. It quickly dissipated. Stiles felt a sudden relief. He wasn’t cold anymore and the constant barrage of negative emotions was gone.

“I guess you were right,” said Stiles. “Rhys must have put some of that dark energy into me.”

Scott beamed at Stiles and said, “I knew that was it. You’re stronger than that.”

Scott couldn’t help himself. He pulled Stiles in for a quick hug which Stiles happily returned. A moment later, they released each other.

“I still don’t have my powers though,” said Stiles.

“That’s fine,” said Scott. “I’m just glad you’re not looking so depressed now. You had me worried.”

“I don’t know how much help I’ll be when we go against him,” said Stiles.

“You’ve still got your bat,” said Scott. “Those runes will work regardless of if you’re still a druid or not.”

“That’s true,” said Stiles. “Well, together then?”

“Together,” agreed Scott. “We’ll stop him, Stiles, don’t worry.”

“Yeah. Nothing can stop the two of us once we’ve made up our minds,” said Stiles, smiling for the first time in a while.

Scott nodded and said, “You know, we really should get some sleep though. We probably need some rest after all this.”

“Yeah, we need to be ready. We don’t know when Rhys will attack,” agree Stiles.

Without any further conversation, the two fell back onto the bed and were asleep before their heads even hit their pillows. They slept soundly and peacefully through the rest of the night.


	15. The Last Stand

Scott and Stiles woke up the next day, except they weren't exactly sure it was day. They looked outside Scott's window and saw that the swirling darkness covering Beacon Hills seemed to have gotten thicker somehow. It actually felt heavy and oppressive. A quick glance at Scott's clock told them it was eleven in the morning. The two of them spun around when they heard the door to Scott's room opening. In stepped a concerned Melissa.

"I'm going to assume that's not good, right?" asked Melissa.

"That would be putting it lightly," replied Stiles.

"What happened?" asked Melissa.

"Long version or the short version?" asked Scott.

"Cliffsnotes is fine," answered Melissa. "How bad is it?"

"It's pretty bad," said Stiles.

Scott shot Stiles a look before he said, "Well, we went to stop Gerard and Jennifer from taking the nemeton and I guess we technically succeeded."

"But?" said Melissa, knowing that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

"But it turns out this other darach, Rhys, had been using them to get to the nemeton. He just shoved his hand into it and then all this happened," continued Scott as he gestured towards the swirling darkness outside.

"That and he sort of took away my powers," added Stiles.

"What?" asked Melissa, genuinely confused. "How? And how did shoving his hand into the nemeton let him do this?"

"Deaton said he's famous for practicing black magic," said Scott. "I guess this is just part of it."

"As for my powers," said Stiles. "When he took control of the nemeton, he cut the connection between me and the world tree. With that connection gone, so are my powers."

"But it's not over yet, right?" asked Melissa. "You guys have a plan or are working on one, right?"

"Well, we're going to try," said Scott.

"That doesn't sound reassuring," said Melissa, looking a bit doubtful.

Scott looked his mom in the eyes with a serious expression on his face and said, "Mom, we're going to try. We're going to do our best and hope that we can stop him. We're not giving up."

Melissa smiled softly at him and said, "I know, Scott. I know you and the others can do it. If anyone can it's definitely you guys. Just be careful, okay?"

"I will be," said Scott.

"Well, if you boys are hungry, I already fixed lunch," said Melissa.

"Lunch sounds great," said Stiles.

"Yeah, thanks, mom," said Scott.

The three of them went downstairs to the dining room where Melissa served them spaghetti and meatballs. It was actually really good. Scott knew his mom didn't always have time to cook, but when she did, it was delicious. They ate their fill and just as they were putting the dishes away it began.

Black lightning cracked through the sky, its thunder shaking the house and everything in it. The sudden sound made all three of them jump. What came next was terrible. Bolts of black lightning began striking the street, houses, cars, and everything else. It looked like Rhys didn't need much time after all. He was already starting his attack. Scott quickly texted everyone to meet at the loft and then turned to his mom and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Mom, I want you to hide. Stay away from everything. I can't have you getting hurt," said Scott, his concern obvious.

"Sweetheart, I'll do my best, but you have to do the same," said Melissa. "You better come back in one piece. That goes for both of you, got it?"

They both nodded at her.

"Get going then," said Melissa. "You're the only ones who can stop this."

Melissa pulled both Scott and Stiles in for a hug, but she let them go quickly. She knew time was running out.

"Good luck," she said.

Without any further delay, Scott and Stiles headed for Derek's loft on Scott's motorbike.

The others had already arrived at the loft when Scott and Stiles got there. Everyone turned to look at them when they entered the loft.

"Looks like we're out of time," said Allison.

"What're we going to do?" asked Kira.

"We need a plan. We can't just rush in," said Derek.

"Everyone, calm down," said Jayce. "We'll work out a plan. Scott, what do you think?"

"I think we don't have much time," replied Scott. "We have to act fast. We need to get everything we need together right now and then attack Rhys. Maybe we can stop him before he gets too strong."

"I have all my weapons with me already," said Allison. "I'm ready to go."

"I'm ready, too," said Kira.

"I think everyone came prepared," said Derek. "We all knew we'd be going into a fight."

"Alright, then this is our last stand," said Jayce. "No matter what happens, this is it. We stand and fight to the bitter end."

"Yeah. It'll take all of us working together to take him down," said Scott. "We're all strong on our own, but together we become something greater. We're a pack and every member of the pack draws power from the other members. We can do this. We're going to give him everything we've got. We can't lose here. Our friends, our families, and the entire world are depending on us to stop Rhys. Beacon Hills won't fall today and neither will we."

Everyone smiled and nodded confidently back at Scott. Stiles placed his hand on Scott's shoulder.

"Nice speech, buddy," Stiles said with a genuine smile.

"Thanks," said Scott. "Let's get going."

The pack hurried to the preserve, the epicenter of the chaos. As they drove through the town, they saw buildings and cars on fire. There were people running away screaming and emergency personnel everywhere. They had to dodge black lightning themselves more than once. It was total chaos. If they didn't stop Rhys soon, there wouldn't be much of Beacon Hills left to save. While he was driving, Scott could have sworn he saw Danny standing in the street writing in a tome in his hand with a sad look on his face, but when he looked again, Danny was gone.

When they arrived at the preserve, they started running towards the nemeton. The thick vines that had formed a wall parted as they ran through the forest, closing behind them as they moved forward. They knew that was a bad sign, but they had no choice but to press onward. More of the dark energy swirled around the trees as they got closer to the nemeton. Finally, they broke into the clearing where the nemeton was.

The nemeton was cloaked in the deep purple and black energy that permeated the preserve. A continuous stream of that energy shot from the nemeton to the sky causing the spread of the darkness and the lightning. Rhys stood before the nemeton. He turned to face them, his eyes now glowing orbs of such deep purple that they almost appeared black. They stood out against his ghastly white skin. He smirked as they approached him.

"So you've come," said Rhys. "Here to make one last attempt to stop me? I'll tell you it's a waste of your time. Not that I'll turn you away though. On the contrary. I'd love to break each of you."

An malevolent smile spread across his face. Rhys took pleasure in the idea of hurting and killing others. He not only wanted that power. He wanted to use it, too.

"We will stop you," proclaimed Scott. "You can't stop all of us."

"Such a naive little boy," said Rhys mockingly. "You think you stand any chance against me? A small pack of wolves, a little fox, a hunter, a banshee of all things, and a powerless druid. I have the power of the nemeton to augment my already exceptional power."

“Don’t underestimate us,” said Derek.

“Aww did I upset you?” mocked Rhys. “Regardless of what you do, I’ll still destroy this town before moving to cover the world in darkness. But if you want to die so badly, then come! I will show you to your graves.”

The entire area crackled with magical energy. The oppression that they had felt from the darkness was at its greatest here, but they did their best to shake it off. They had to focus on stopping Rhys. The black energy began to encircle Rhys. A moment later, Rhys threw his hand out towards the pack, sending arcing bolts of black lightning at them. The pack scattered and nimbly avoided his attack.

Allison fell back to a more advantageous position with a vantage point, pulling Lydia with her.

“Stay behind me, Lydia,” said Allison. “Use your scream when you can. That might give us the opening we need.”

“That’s just it,” said Lydia, sounding both confused and afraid. “I can’t find the right sound for him. I can’t stun him.”

“It’s alright, Lydia. We’ll make it through,” said Allison.

“I have a better idea,” said Lydia, pulling a handgun from her purse.

“I was wondering why you brought your purse with you,” said Allison. “But when did you learn to shoot?”

“I was reading about it. You know, the theory and everything really isn’t that hard. It just took a little practice and I had it,” said Lydia.

“You never cease to amaze me,” said Allison with a smile.

“I know. I’m the best,” said Lydia, returning the smile. “Now, let’s give these guys some covering fire.”

“Right,” said Allison.

They both took their positions and prepared their weapons. When they were ready, they took aim at Rhys and started firing.

Kira rolled nimbly out of the way of the lightning. She was right back on her feet with her sword drawn. Her eyes were burning orange as she channeled her lightning into her sword. Using it as conductor, she swung it towards Rhys. A massive bolt of blue lightning erupted from the end of her sword.

Jayce jumped to the side, going into a backflip to avoid the lightning as well as get a better position. He drew the water from his water backpack and froze some of it into sharp ice daggers. He saw Lydia and Allison taking aim and he timed his shot with their, releasing the ice dagger so that they would arrive at the same time as their shots.

Stiles stumbled with his roll, falling off balance, but Still avoiding the lightning. Scott grabbed him and helped him up. Scott, Isaac, and Derek charged Rhys, their fangs and claws bared, with Stiles right behind them.

Rhys saw all of their attacks coming together as one and smirked. Derek noticed it, but it was too late to stop. Rhys raised his hands and became surrounded by a sphere of purple energy. It deflected Allison’s arrows, Lydia’s bullets, and Jayce’s ice shards while absorbing Kira’s lightning. A second later, it suddenly pushed outward, slamming into Scott, Stiles, Derek, and Isaac. The attack sent them flying backwards through the air. They slammed into the ground, narrowly avoiding the nearby trees at the edge of the clearing.

“I told you it was pointless,” said Rhys. “You’ll never touch me.”

“We need to stagger our attacks,” shouted Jayce. “Work together and we can do this.”

“Spread out!” shouted Scott.

Scott, Stiles, Derek, and Isaac all broke off in different directions so they could better stagger their attacks. Allison and Lydia began alternating the timing of their shots and moving away from each other so the shots weren’t coming from the same place. Kira charged her sword with electricity again and ran towards Rhyse. Stiles was on the opposite side of her, charging at the same time. Rhys laughed as he raised another energy barrier. Kira’s sword and Stiles’ bat collided with the barrier. The runes on Stiles’ bat were all burning red, adding an immense amount of force and power to the hit. The purple barrier began to turn blue at the point where Kira’s sword had come into contact with it. Kira’s eyes were glowing brightly as she poured me electricity into the sword, amping up its power. Cracks suddenly began to appear in the energy barrier.

“What?” said Rhys, sounding surprised. “That’s not possible. You can’t possibly have the strength to break through this barrier.”

“I said not to underestimate us!” shouted Derek as he and Scott slammed their fists into the back of the barrier right next to each other.

The cracks spread to cover the entire barrier when they did that. A moment later, the energy barrier collapsed. Allison had already released her arrow, knowing her chance was coming. As the barrier collapsed, her arrow whizzed through and found its mark in Rhys’ right shoulder. Rhys let out a roar of pain and anger.

“You wretch!” he shouted angrily. “I will end you!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” said Isaac as he shoved his claws into Rhys’ side.

Rhys shouted in pain and backhanded Isaac with such strength it sent him flying through the air. Jayce sent a large blast of water at Rhys. It connected with him, but Rhys recovered quickly.

“Fine. Playtime’s over, children,” said Rhys, his anger almost animalistic.

Rhys held his hands over the ground and dark energy flowed from them into the ground. Black thorny vines like those that made the walls around the preserve sprang from the ground and shot towards each of the pack members. Isaac who was just starting to get back up from the backhand was caught off guard and one of the vines slammed into him. It slammed him into a nearby tree where it used itself to bind Isaac to the tree. Its thorns dug into Isaac, now allowing him to heal because they remained stuck in his body.

Kira sliced through the vines that approached her, but she was forced to start backing up because they were attacking her so fast. Scott and Derek ran towards Stiles, knowing he would need help with the vines. The three of them stood back to back in a triangle. Stiles bashed the bines with his runic bat while Scott and Derek used their claws. It was working, but they were stuck holding that position just like Kira was. They couldn’t move.

Allison and Lydia knew their weapons wouldn’t be useful against the vines, so they ran. Allison flung her bow across her back and tossed Lydia a dagger. She then drew her own Chinese ring daggers. They were small and close range weapons, but it was all they had. Lydia unsheathed her dagger quickly. They ran towards Kira, but before they got close they were cut off by vines. Allison and Lydia stood back to back using their daggers to fend off the vines as best they could. For now, they could do it, but they’d tire themselves out or slip up soon at this rate.

Rhys smiled as he watched the wines keep the pack occupied. He pulled the arrow out of his shoulder and tossed it aside. It began to heal along with the wound in his side as purple energy bubbled inside of it. He looked over to where Isaac was pinned to a tree, bleeding more as the vines constricted him. Rhys smiled, taking great pleasure in his agony.

Rhys heard a noise behind him. He turned around to see his own vines flying at him. He nimbly jumped out of the way, but he was bewildered as to how this could have happened. He looked in the direction the vines came from and he saw Jayce breathing heavily with a little bit of blood running down his face. As more vines moved towards Jayce, he held out his arms and the vines stopped. He flung his arms towards Rhys and the vines followed his directions.

“Ah, of course,” said Rhys as he incinerated the incoming vines. “You’re bending the water inside my vines. Impressive. But you can’t stop this.”

Black lightning shot from Rhys’s fingertips. Jayce was barely able to jump to the side to dodge the blast. Rhys was ready though. He launched a second bolt at Jayce. Jayce was on the ground already and couldn’t recover in time to dodge the attack. Instead, Jayce bent what little water he had left around him, forming a dome. The lightning hit the water and was transferred through it into the ground. Jayce breathed a sigh of relief, but it was forcibly knocked from him a moment later as a vine slammed into him. It had come from below him. Jayce gasped for air as he was sent flying across the clearing. He landed close to where the others were busy fighting, but he couldn’t really move.

Rhyse raise his hands again and a hurricane force wind blew out of nowhere. It knocked everyone off balance and they fell to the ground. The vines didn’t waste their opportunity to knock the pack around some. Scott and Stiles had landed right next to each other when the vines finally stopped their assault. Rhys motioned towards Isaac and the vine that held him to the tree began to unwind itself, allowing Isaac to fall forward a bit, blood pouring freely from his wounds where the thorns had been. The vine then wrapped itself around Isaac’s waist and hurled him towards the rest of the pack where he collided with Allison on the ground. They both let out grunts of pain.

“Well, it looks like that was your best, but it was far from enough to beat me,” said Rhys as he showed off his shoulder and side where they had managed to strike him earlier. “The two little scratches you put on me earlier are gone. It’s like they never happened. Tell me. How does it feel to be so weak and helpless? How does it feel to know I’m about to kill all of your friends and family along with all the other innocents in this town?”

The pack struggled to move, but they were all too battered, bruised, and bloodied already. It hurt to even try to move. Scott looked up at Rhys with a determined glare.

“I see one of you still has some fight left in him, but it doesn’t like you can do anything with it,” sneered Rhys. “I’m afraid I’ve grown tired of playing with you, so this is where it ends. At least you’ll go out with a bang.”

Rhys raised his right hand into the air. The sky above them began to crackle with black lightning like a massive electrical storm was happening in the the darkness that was the sky. They knew what was coming. Scott turned his head to look at Stiles.

“I’m sorry, Stiles,” said Scott. “It shouldn’t end like this.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” said Stiles, taking Scott’s hand. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It’s been a hell of an adventure, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess it has. I just wish it didn’t have to end,” said Scott.

“All good things must come to an end, Scotty,” said Stiles soberly.

“I’m glad I had you by my side. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have in my corner,” said Scott.

“Yeah, well, I told you you’ve still got me,” said Stiles. “It’s just like we said though. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it together.”

“Yeah. Together,” echoed Scott.

Scott and Stiles looked up at the sky. A large cluster of lightning bolts burst forth from the swirling darkness above them. They squeezed each others hands as their visions completely whited out.

 


	16. The Bonds Of Friendship

Scott and Stiles' eyes fluttered open. They seemed to be laying face down next to each other in a green, featureless area. A light fog filled the area, giving the illusion of a green haze. They were confused. They thought they had died when Rhys struck them with his lightning.

"Is this heaven? Or something?" Scott managed to force out.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it's not," said Stiles. "I don't feel dead."

"Then where are we?" asked Scott.

"Little ones," said a disembodied voice, filled with ancient power. "Can you still hear me?"

"Who's there?" asked Scott.

"Ah good," said the voice. "I can still reach you. A shame it took you being pushed to the brink of death for this to be possible."

"So we're not dead?" asked Scott.

"No, not yet," replied the voice.

"Then where the hell are we?" asked Stiles.

"That's a complicated question," mused the voice. "You're in a special place. Somewhere between dream and reality, life and death."

"Well that wasn't cryptic or anything," said Stiles sarcastically.

"But who are you?" asked Scott.

"You should know already," replied the voice.

"Wait, I recognize that voice," said Stiles. "It's the world tree. But how? My connection to you was severed."

"Oh, my young, naive boy," said the world tree. "The connection between a world druid and the world tree can never truly be severed. Not like that anyway."

"But he took control of the nemeton," said Stiles. "I still don't have any of my powers."

"The nemeton is just a representation of the world tree," explained the voice. "For druids and you especially, the nemeton is a conduit. A means to channel the power of the world tree. Normal druids can't control the power of the world tree directly. It's just too much for them. The nemeton allows them to draw on some of the world tree's power, but only what they can control."

"So does Rhys have the power of the world tree?" asked Stiles.

"Not yet," answered the world tree. "But he will soon at this rate. He's transforming himself into a world darach. Once he achieves that, there is likely no way to stop him."

"But what can we do?" asked Scott. "We can't even move right now."

"There's a power the two of you haven't tapped yet," said the world tree. "I don't know with certainty that it will be enough, but it's worth a shot, isn't it? But first you must find the strength to stand again."

"And how do we do that?" asked Stiles. "I can't even move my head."

What happened next surprised both Scott and Stiles. Instead of the world tree's voice, they were greeted by another familiar voice.

"Get up," said Derek.

"Derek?" asked Scott.

Sure enough, Derek was standing in front of them, but his image didn't look fully solid, like a ghost, but maybe it was just the fog.

"You two are like brothers to me now. I'll do anything I can to help you. I also know you two well enough to know that this isn't going to stop you. There's no way you'd let things just end here. Not while there's still a chance to save everyone. I'm counting on the two of you, okay? You can't just give up here. I know you're both stronger than that, so find another way to stand and fight!" said Derek.

A small wave of strength filled Scott and Stiles as Derek vanished, fading into the fog. He was replaced by Isaac.

"Come on, Scott," said Isaac. "You know I look up to you. A lot actually. You've been there for me when everyone else abandoned me. I want you to know I'm here for you, too."

Isaac turned to face Stiles and said, "Stiles, I mess with you a lot and we both fight, but, in the end, I trust you, too. I know Scott wouldn't place his trust in anyone lightly and I've seen what you can do. You're strong, too, Stiles, so don't give up here, okay? That goes for both of you."

Isaac faded away and Lydia appeared in his place.

"Look at the two of you," said Lydia. "This is pathetic. You're both capable of a hell of a lot more. I've seen what the two of you can do, especially when you're working together. So, get off your asses and get back out there!"

For a moment her expression softened and she said, "I'm counting on you two. I know this isn't the end. Trust me."

With a little wink, she dissolved into the fog as Allison materialized in front of them.

"Come on," said Allison. "I know you two aren't giving up already. I know it's hard and I know it hurts, so take a breather right now, but we need both of you to get back up. We can't let this be how things end. I believe in you. In both of you. So get up!"

Allison's form melted away and a new figure formed in its place. This time it was Kira.

"Scott, Stiles," said Kira. "I haven't known either of you for that long really and it's been kind of crazy since the moment we all met, but I know one thing for sure. The two of you never give up. I know you're both strong. I've seen you fight, Stiles, with both you mind and your body. It's impressive. So, I believe in you two. I know you can do this. It's time to get back on your feet one more time. Don't let it all end here."

Kira smiled brightly at them as she faded into the fog. Jayce appeared before them next.

"It's been quite an adventure since I came back," said Jayce, smiling at both of them. "But I'm glad I came back. I forgot how much I love it here and how much I missed both of you. You two haven't changed at all really and there's no better team in the world than the two of you. I know you two aren't going to just give up here, so neither am I. But if we're going to win, we're going to need both of you. No way around it. So, come on, guys. Get up one last time. Let's finish this."

Jayce vanished into the fog and was replaced by two figures this time. It was Melissa and the Sheriff.

"It's too early to be resting, boys," said Melissa. "You're not finished yet."

"She's right," said the Sheriff. "You two still have a job to finish. You've got people to protect. They're all depending on you and I know you won't let them down."

"You boys are as strong as you are stubborn. Trust me. I've known you both since birth," said Melissa. "Now's the time to prove it. Help each other back up and go kick that guy's ass."

"What she said!" said the Sheriff with a smile. "We love you boys and we believe in you."

"You've got this," said Melissa.

With one last smile and encouraging nod from Melissa, they faded into the fog and were replaced by Chris.

"I expected more from you, Scott. You, too, Stiles," said Chris. "I've seen what you're both capable of and this isn't it. Do you know the new code Allison made for the Argents? 'We protect those who cannot protect themselves'. I know you're not Argents, but I think you both want to protect everyone. And right now, there are a lot of people out there who can't protect themselves from what's happening. So pull yourselves back up and find a way to stop him. I expect nothing less from the two of you."

Chris nodded at them as he dissolved into the fog. A moment later, Deaton appeared.

"Well, it looks like you two are facing your toughest challenge yet," said Deaton. "But don't lose heart. You haven't lost yet. I've always believed in the two of you. There was always something special about the both of you. To think that I would live to see the awakening of both a true alpha and a world druid... It's truly something. The key to victory lies with the two of you. Find the strength you need to keep on fighting."

Deaton vanished into the fog. Scott and Stiles realized that they could move again. Their bodies no longer ached. They had felt more and more strength return to them each time one of their friends or mentors appeared to them. They didn't know how, but they knew that they had somehow given them strength.

"I see you've recovered," said the world tree, finally speaking again.

"What was that?" asked Scott.

"What you saw were the words of your friends' heart," answered the world tree. "Those whose lives you've touched and changed profoundly. Those with whom you share close bonds."

"You're saying those bonds gave us strength?" asked Stiles.

"Yes. Friendship and human love are powerful things," replied the world tree. "You shouldn't be so surprised. Werewolves grow stronger the larger their pack is. The same is true here."

"Alright, so we got some of our strength back, but now what do we do?" asked Scott.

"I told you that there was a power the two of you had not tapped yet," said the world tree. "Have you begun to figure out what it is yet?"

"It has something to do with the two of us," said Stiles. "I mean specifically the two of us. That's what everything's hinted at so far."

"Indeed," said the world tree. "You've seen a tiny inkling of this power before, but you were using it without even thinking about it."

"You mean when we seemed to be in sync with each other?" asked Scott.

"Yes. That's what I mean," said the world tree. "You two flowed as one, boosting the other. But it was only in a very minor regard."

"Are you saying we can do more than that?" asked Stiles.

"Much more," replied the world tree. "You see, this isn't something that anyone can do or that even any world druid and true alpha can do. It requires the two of you to share a very close and powerful bond. I believe your friendship would meet that requirement, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Stiles. "I mean, I've known Scott for as long as I can remember. We've kind of just clicked and been best friends. I can't imagine my life without him."

"Same here," said Scott, flashing one of his trademark smiles at Stiles. "Stiles has helped me through a lot and he's always been there for me. He's even saved my life a few times. I couldn't ask for a better or closer friend."

"Then I will explain this technique," said the world tree. "It's called a soul link. The name is self-explanatory. When you activate it, you will link your souls together. When you do this, there will be little to no separation between the two of you. You will exist in two bodies, but you consciousness, thoughts, memories, and powers will freely flow into each other. You will become part of each other in a very literal sense. Even when the soul link is over, you will still have a part of that person with you. It is a lasting effect."

"You said our powers will flow into each other, too," said Stiles. "What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said," answered the world tree. "The true alpha will gain the powers of the world druid and the world druid will gain the powers of the true alpha. You will each have both powers."

"So, how do we activate a soul link?" asked Scott. "It doesn't sound easy."

"It's easier than you might think," replied the world tree. "All you need to do is call on the strength of your friendship and then let it happen. When the time comes, you'll know what to do and you won't have any problems. Remember. The two of you are already connected."

"Will I have my world druid powers, though?" asked Stiles. "I feel like that's kind of important."

"Little one, you are the world druid," replied the world tree. "You will always be connected to me, even without the nemeton. Call for me and my power will always come to you."

Stiles nodded with determination and turned his head to look at Scott.

"You ready to kick this guy's ass?" asked Stiles, a smile spreading across his face.

"Hell yeah," answered Scott, returning the smile. "We'll take him down together."

The two of them turned to face each other and clasped hands at about their chest level.

"Let's do this!" exclaimed Stiles.

The area began to fade into a blinding white light.

"Good luck, little ones," said the world tree, its voice fading.

The light fully enveloped them and their vision whited out once more.


	17. Soul Link

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [An Accompanying Piece Of Art For This Chapter](http://xproskeith.tumblr.com/post/92847512465/the-war-of-the-nemeton-masterpost)

Scott and Stiles’ vision cleared. They found themselves standing, clasping hands like they had been just moments ago. They looked around and saw their friends strewn about, patches of their clothes burned and blackened by the lightning. They seemed to have been unconscious, but were beginning to regain it, their eyes opening. In spite of that, it didn’t seem that they could move. The ground was blasted from the lightning attack, yet Scott and Stiles seemed unharmed now. The two of them looked towards the nemeton and saw Rhys with his back turned to them. He seemed to be working on something.

Scott and Stiles looked at each other and nodded.

“Oh, Rhys,” shouted Stiles, his voice both taunting and agitated. “We’re not done here.”

Rhys spun around to face them, confusion, fear, and anger written all over his face. He honestly looked more bewildered than anything. After all, he was sure he’d just killed them.

“You didn’t think you’d get rid of us that easily, did you?” asked Scott, his eyes flashing a deep crimson red.

“How did you survive?” asked Rhys, his voice sounding warped by the magic coursing through him. “That blast should have killed you.”

“Well, you really shouldn’t try applying logic to us,” said Stiles confidently. “I think it’s time I took my place as a real world druid.”

Stiles looked at Rhys as a smirk spread across his face. Stiles’ eyes began to glow a brilliant emerald green once more. Stiles could feel it. He felt the connection to the world tree, to everything, but it was even stronger now. The power of the world tree flowed into him, filling him with strength and knowledge once more. Scott looked over and smiled as his best friend’s power returned to him before returning his gaze to Rhys. Rhys looked shocked and horrified.

“That’s not possible!” he shouted. “I severed your connection to the nemeton! There’s no way you can still use your powers!”

“I am the world druid,” replied Stiles. “My connection is to the world tree and you can never break that.”

“Then I’ll just have to eliminate you and Beacon Hills together this time,” said Rhys, smirking evilly as he regained his composure.

“We won’t let you do that,” said Scott. “You stand to hurt and kill innocent people.”

“You upset the balance of this world,” said Stiles. “It’s my job as the world druid to restore and maintain that balance.”

“This ends here!” exclaimed Scott and Stiles together.

“Just because you survived one attack doesn’t mean you’ll survive the next,” said Rhys. “You’re still just a druid and a werewolf. The rest of your pack is already defeated.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Stiles. “You see, our pack is what brought us back.”

“Their strength became ours,” said Scott. “And now we’re going to show you what we can really do.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Rhys. “Whatever trick you’ve got up your sleeve won’t be enough to stop me.”

“You ready, Scott?” asked Stiles.

“Whenever you are,” replied Scott.

Scott and Stiles stood next to each other. They could feel each other more strongly than they had before. They felt their hearts beating in perfect time with each other. They finally understood what the world tree had meant about the bond they shared. It wasn’t about the link of a true alpha and a world druid. It was about the friendship, the brotherhood, that they had cultivated over all these years. Now it was time to call on the strength of that bond.

“Soul link!” shouted Scott and Stiles in unison.

Their tattoos began to emanate a bright green light. Lines raced across Scott and Stiles’ bodies, forming intricate runic tattoos. Stiles’ left eye ceased glowing green and began to glow a crimson red. At the same time, Scott’s left eye began to glow with a brilliant emerald green instead of its usual red.

Scott and Stiles felt exactly what the world tree had told them they would. They felt their two minds and consciousness flow into each other, becoming one larger consciousness. Their thoughts, feelings, and memories connected with each other. Scott saw the things that Stiles kept inside, the memories of his time as the nogitsune and the memory of his mother’s death. Even after all this time, they weighed on him. Stiles saw Scott’s memories of the night his dad left. He saw how his dad accidentally hurt him and how he angry he was at his dad for just abandoning them as if they were nothing. But there was happiness, too. The memories gave way to all of the time they’d spent together and the many adventures they’d been on. All of that had been leading up to this point. They didn’t need to look at each other. They knew exactly what the other was thinking and planning. They knew where they needed to be and what they needed to do. Their thoughts connected perfectly as if they really were one in the same. If it had been anyone else, they might have said the sensation felt weird and disorienting, but to Scott and Stiles, nothing felt more natural. They were truly linked, mind, body, and soul. Nothing could stop them now.

The rest of the pack stared in awe at the scene unfolding before them. None of them, not even Derek, had ever seen or heard of something like this. They were also surprised by the sheer power that seemed to be radiating from Scott and Stiles. It felt strong, warm, and comforting. Rhys also seemed to be affected by their radiant power. It seemed to be oppressive to him. Rhys was physically fighting back against it.

“I’m not sure what the hell you two are doing, but I’m going to put a stop to it right now!” shouted Rhys.

He thrust his hands forward as the dark energy began to swirl around him. Black tinted water erupted from the ground and surged towards Scott and Stiles. As it did, lightning struck it from above, electrifying the water. Scott and Stiles calmly raised their right hands and a barrier of green energy appeared in front of them. Glowing runes ran across the energy wall as the water collided with it. Scott and Stiles lowered their hands and the barrier dispersed as the torrent of water ran its course.

 _Let’s go_ , said Stiles to Scott, his words flowing directly into Scott's mind.

 _Yeah. I’m ready. You know what to do_ , answered Scott.

 _Don’t I always?_ , replied Stiles.

Scott and Stiles took off running in opposite directions, flanking Rhys. Stiles couldn’t believe how fast he was moving. He’d never felt such physical strength or speed before and his senses were heightened to a level way beyond what they should be. Thankfully, Scott’s control was also shared with him, so he had no problem. Scott felt everything around him. It went beyond his normal enhanced werewolf senses. He was aware of everything around him. Its presence. Its existence. He could feel the energy of the world and the universe flowing around him. It was amazing. More than anything, however, the two of them felt the strength of their bond. Everything they were sharing crossed through to the other by that bond. The whole experience was unlike anything that they’d ever felt before.

Rhys sent black, thorny vines at both Scott and Stiles. Both of them leapt into the air, dodging the initial wave of vines, but Rhys has already followed up with more vines. Rhys smirked knowing that they couldn’t change direction in midair.

Scott kicked out his foot at an angle in the air. A green rune appeared in the air beneath his foot and he used it as a springboard, bouncing off it and away from the vines. Stiles did the same. With the vines out of the way, Scott and Stiles used the same technique to quickly bounce around the clearing, building speed with each redirection. Rhys was having trouble tracking them now. Scott shot forward at Rhys while his back was turned to him.

“Behind you!” shouted Scott.

As Rhys turned towards Scott, Scott landed a punch square in Rhys’ face as he finished bouncing downward. Not missing a beat, Scott bounced back into the air by using another rune to boost his momentum. As Rhys spun around from the sheer force of Scott’s punch, he was greeted by a strike from Stiles’ bat as Stiles came flying down.

“Too slow!” taunted Stiles as he bounced back into the air.

Rhys fell to the ground. He was dazed and in pain. An idea came to him. If he couldn’t hurt Scott and Stiles, he could hurt their friends. It would give him and opening. Rhys quickly summoned more vines to attack the immobilized pack.

Stiles appeared in front of the pack, his eyes glowing even brighter with their ferocity. He let out a roar that rivaled Scott’s in loudness and power. As he did so, a large magic circle appeared beneath him and the rest of the pack. A translucent green dome appeared around them, starting at the edges of the magic circle. The vines disintegrated on contact with the barrier. Seeing that the barrier was in place and that everyone was safe, Stiles ran through the barrier and back into the combat.

Rhys made a face as he saw his plan had failed. It had at least allowed him to regain his composure as he scrambled back to his feet. He felt something sharp dig into his back a moment later and he let out a gasp of shock and pain.

“Forget about me?” asked Scott as he pulled his claws out of Rhys.

Rhys stumbled to the side, clasping his hand to his back. The wound wasn’t closing like they had before. Rhys continued to bleed. Panic began to spread across Rhys’ face as he realized this and noticed that Stiles was almost on him again. Rhys quickly surrounded himself in an orb of black and purple energy.

“That’s your plan?” asked Stiles. “Hide from us with your little energy wall?”

“Shut up!” shouted Rhys.

“You’re scared,” said Scott calmly. “You know you can’t beat us.”

“I can and I will!” shouted Rhys, his voice shaking as he began to lose his composure once more.

“Then come out and prove it,” said Stiles.

Inside the bubble, Rhys was gathering as much magical energy as he could. He knew he’d have just one real shot when he dropped the barrier and he couldn’t afford to miss. Scott and Stiles stood next to each other in front of Rhys’ barrier.

“You can’t hide in there forever,” said Scott. “So if you won’t come out on your own...”

“We’re coming in,” said Stiles, finishing Scott’s sentence fluidly.

Without another word, they placed their hands on Rhys’ barrier. Green cracks began to appear and branch out, covering the entire barrier. Less than a second later, the barrier shattered.

Rhys wasted no time. The same moment that they collapsed his barrier, he unleashed all of the magical power he’d been storing up. An enormous blast of pure black magic energy rushed towards Scott and Stiles. The attack hit them, but appeared to pass through them. It took Rhys a moment to realize that what he was seeing was their after images. His expression became one of surprise and horror as he realized this.

Suddenly, Rhys found himself hurled into the air. As he was ascending, Rhys noticed that the air around him was littered with runic magic circles. Scott and Stiles began bouncing from rune to rune, gaining speed and strength with each rune they hit.

 _Are you ready?_ asked Scott.

 _You already know the answer to that_ , replied Stiles.

 _Yeah, but it never hurts to ask_ , said Scott.

 _You’re right. Well, let’s finish this_ , said Stiles.

 _Let’s go!_ said Scott.

Scott and Stiles began to hit Rhys each time they bounced to a new rune. They kicked, punched, clawed, elbowed, and kneed him. Each attack had more power and greater speed. Rhys was helpless to stop the assault. They were just too fast and too powerful. He didn’t even have time to raise a magical defense. Stiles kicked Rhys heard in his back, propelling him upwards once more. The kick sent Rhys soaring above the tree line of the preserve. He saw a large rune above him. It was half green and half red.

A moment later, as Rhys’ assent was slowing, Scott and Stiles shot past Rhys, landing on the rune with Stiles on the red half and Scott on the green half. They looked at him with determination in their eyes. Rhys had never seen such power before. Just before Rhys stopped rising through the air, Scott and Stiles bounced off the rune, flying straight down at Rhys. Their fists connected with Rhys’ chest at the same time. Instead of releasing, they followed through with him. They followed him all the way to the ground, never relenting from their punches. The ground cracked and crumbled beneath Rhys as the three of them collided with the ground. Rhys gasped as the air was forced out of his lungs.

Scott and Stiles stood on either side of him as if nothing had happened. Rhys looked up at them, but he couldn’t move. His body was too beaten and battered and it wouldn’t heal itself. His eyes were still glowing a deep purple hue, but he couldn’t seem to call on his powers. He was beaten.

 _What do we do with him?_ asked Stiles.

 _We can’t kill him_ , said Scott.

 _I know and I don’t think that’s the best plan_ , replied Stiles.

 _But you-_ , started Scott.

 _Scott, our minds are one. I know what you’re thinking and feeling just like you know what I’m thinking and feeling. We both know that’s not the way to do it. Besides, I've never actually been serious when I suggest just killing someone_ , said Stiles.

 _So what else is there?_ asked Scott.

 _I have an idea_ , said Stiles.

 _I think I like this idea_ , said Scott as the idea flowed from Stiles to him.

 _I can’t do it alone though_ , said Stiles.

 _You never were. I’m right here_ , said Scott, a smile crossing his face.

The two walked away from Rhys, satisfied that he was incapacitated for the moment. They each stood on opposite sides of the nemeton which was still spewing dark magical energy into the air, creating chaos and destruction across Beacon Hills.

“What are you doing?” Rhys managed to choke out.

“We’re not going to kill you, if that’s what you’re asking,” replied Scott.

“You’re stupider than I thought then,” retorted Rhys. “Or maybe you just don’t have the guts.”

“No, that’s not it,” answered Stiles. “Killing you really doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t restore the balance or undo any of the damage you’ve done.”

“Then what are you doing?” asked Rhys again.

“I’m going to undo everything you’ve done,” said Stiles. “Darkness can seem overwhelming and it can thrive in the void. Trust me; I know. But it always yields to purifying light.”

“And just what light would that be?” spat Rhys.

“Stiles and I will be that light,” replied Scott, smiling at his best friend.

Stiles returned Scott’s smile and, with a nod, the two of them raised their hands up. Runes began to form beneath Scott and Stiles. The runes began to spread outward to the right of each of them, forming a circle around the nemeton. Once the last runes had formed, a glowing magic circle appeared within the circle, integrating the runes into its outermost ring. Scott looked at the runes and symbols before him and was surprised that he knew what they all meant.

 _I can understand these symbols!_ said Scott.

 _Of course you can, buddy. We’re connected. You have all my knowledge and I have all of yours_ , replied Stiles.

 _Yeah, that’s true. I guess I just didn’t pay attention before. I know what to do_ , said Scott.

 _Then let’s end this_ , said Stiles.

Scott felt the world tree’s power, no, Stiles’ power, coursing through him. He also felt the strength and power of their bond. That was the key. Scott and Stiles latched on to that power and channeled it into the magic circle. In response, the magic circle began to glow with a brilliant white light. The light flowed into the nemeton, overtaking the purple and black energy that was swirling around it. The white light shot from the nemeton and into the sky, illuminating the entire clearing. The dark energy swirled around the forest and the clearing dissipated almost immediately and the sky began to clear. Just as Stiles had said, the darkness yielded to the light.

Rhys felt all of his power draining from him. Not just the power from the nemeton. He felt his druidic powers fading along with it. The glowing purple of his eyes faded with the light, giving way to his original red eyes; however, his red eyes soon turned to a pale gray color. Rhys had successfully been stripped of all of his strength and power.

As the last of the darkness that had fallen over Beacon Hills dispersed, Scott and Stiles heard a familiar voice. It was the nemeton.

“Thank you,” said the nemeton. “That was a very impressive display of power and character. You chose not to kill your enemy, but to remove his ability to hurt anyone else. You two are really something.”

“We are a true alpha and a world druid,” said Stiles. “You should expect nothing less.”

“That’s true, but even the past world druids and true alphas haven’t demonstrated the power, skill, and strength of character that you have,” said the nemeton. “Very few can ever use the soul link, let alone master it. You two took to it as if it was natural.”

“We wanted to protect everyone,” said Scott.

“And that gave you great strength. Your friendships with other and with each other did that,” said the nemeton. “Regardless, what you did here today was nothing short of exceptional and you should be commended. Beacon Hills is lucky to have you to watch over it. I look forward to watching you two and your pack in the future.”

“Thanks,” said Scott. “We won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t,” said the nemeton before its voice faded away once again.

The sky had fully returned to normal. It was a bright and cloudless day now that the darkness had been dispelled. The light from the nemeton died down, falling back to the ground. The magic circle and the runes faded away, their job complete. Scott and Stiles lowered their arms and walked to each other. They exchanged a glance, but nothing more was needed. They knew. The two of them walked over to the others who were still heavily injured.

Stiles dispelled the barrier that he had raised around them. Stiles and Scott placed their hands on the ground and a new magic circle appeared beneath the pack. The magic circle began to spin and glow. As it did, the pack felt their wounds healing and their strength returning to them. After a minute or two, they were fully healed and able to stand on their own. With their friends taken care of, Scott and Stiles walked over to Rhys who had managed to climb to his feet while bracing himself on a nearby tree. The pack followed behind them.

“So you did it,” said Rhys quietly, looking at the ground. “You’ve won.”

“Rhys, we’ve taken your powers from you,” said Stiles. “For good reason, too.”

“We won’t kill you, but we can’t let you continue to hurt and kill other people,” said Scott.

“I’m nothing without my powers,” said Rhys.

“You might want to reevaluate your life then,” said Stiles.

“Look, Rhys, take this chance to get out of here,” said Scott. “Leave now and never come back. We don’t care what you do, but if we find out that you hurt someone or caused trouble again, we will come for you.”

Rhys just glared at Scott and Stiles indignantly for a few moment before he finally began to slink off into the woods of the preserve. Before long, he was out of sight. Scott and Stiles turned to face the rest of the pack.

“So, want to explain the whole multi-colored eyes and fully body tattoos thing?” asked Kira.

“Oh, right,” said Scott. “They don’t know.”

“I guess we should explain that to them then,” said Stiles. “Well, you see…”

Scott and Stiles gave the pack a quick rundown of everything that happened to them after they were hit by Rhys’ lightning attack. They explained what the soul link was and how they used it to defeat Rhys.

“I understand all that, but why are you two still using the soul link?” asked Lydia. “The battle’s over.”

“Huh?” asked Scott.

Stiles seemed equally confused for a moment, but then he said, “Oh! Right! Yeah, Scott, we kind of never ended it.”

“Oh, I guess we didn’t,” said Scott. “I just kind of forgot about it.”

“Yeah, it feels natural, so I just forgot we were even linked,” agreed Stiles.

Scott and Stiles closed their eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. The runic tattoos that had covered their bodies began to recede back into their mirror tattoos on their arms and they stopped glowing. When Scott and Stiles opened their eyes, they were back to their normal dark brown color. They knew that the soul link had ended, but they could still really feel each other. The world tree was right. There was a lasting effect, but it was a good one.

“That’s much better,” said Lydia. “You two just can’t pull off the full body tattoo look.”

“I don’t know,” said Kira. “I think they pulled it off.”

“I think I’ll go with Lydia on this one,” said Allison.

“That’s not really important,” said Stiles. “We need to go check on our parents and everyone.”

“Yeah, we need to make sure everything’s okay and help with damage control if we can,” said Scott.

“Let’s get going then,” said Derek.

The pack started to make their way back to their cars. As they were about to step out of the clearing, Scott and Stiles heard a voice echo through their heads before quickly vanishing.

“Well done, little ones,” said the world tree. “Well done indeed.”

Scott and Stiles smiled and bumped fists as they continued walking after the pack.


	18. And All Was Well

The pack drove through Beacon Hills as they headed back to Scott's house to check on Melissa and the sheriff. They saw cracked and shattered concrete, blackened by the lightning strikes. Buildings has taken damage and many had their windows broken. There were fire trucks putting out the small fires. As they moved into the more populated part of the city, they saw ambulances everywhere. Scott watched as the paramedics gave first aid to the many injured people while others helped to prioritize the victims for transport to the hospital. They passed by the school to see if it had been damaged, but it looked like it hadn't sustained any damage.

"Figures," said Stiles. "The whole town gets blasted by lightning and evil magic and the one thing that doesn't get destroyed is the school."

"Guess we'll still have school after all this," said Scott.

"You two will be fine," said Lydia. "Honestly, school's really not that hard."

"Yeah, well, not all of us are certified geniuses, Lydia," retorted Stiles.

Lydia just rolled her eyes as they continued to make their way to Scott's house.

Before much longer, they arrived. Scott and Stiles ran as fast as they could into the house.Their parents were both waiting for them in the living room. They were sitting next to each other on the couch.

"Is it over?" asked the sheriff. "I mean, really over?"

"Yeah," said Scott, relief washing over him. "It really is."

"We knew the two of you could do it," said Melissa. "Well, the whole pack really."

"No, it was really them," said Derek as the rest of the pack walked into the house. "We thought we'd lost and then these two came back and won."

"Yeah, they were pretty awesome," said Kira with a smile.

"Why don't you just tell us what happened?" suggested the sheriff.

"First, are you both okay?" asked Scott. "I mean, you look okay, but I want to be sure."

"We're fine, Scott," replied Melissa. "I promise. So, tell us what happened."

Scott nodded and began to tell Melissa and the sheriff what happened during their final fight with Rhys. As Scott told the story, the others would randomly take over or add their own bit to the story. It was actually useful because Scott and Stiles were able to hear what happened to everyone after Rhys' final attack while they were talking to the world tree. Melissa and the sheriff listened intently, although the sheriff was a bit more animated as he listened to the story than Melissa was. Finally, they reached the end.

"That was one hell of a story," said Melissa.

"I'll say," added the sheriff. "So, you're saying you and Scott just kind of blended your minds and that made you super powerful."

"Basically, yeah," said Stiles.

"But how?" said the sheriff looking legitimately confused.

"World druid and true alpha magic?" said Stiles, not sounding sure himself.

"Right..." said the sheriff who now looked completely done with all of this supernatural stuff.

"We could always just show you," suggested Scott.

"No, that's alright," said the sheriff. "I think I get it. What's important is you won."

"That's right," said Melissa. "All of you did great. We're proud of all of you."

"You think we'll actually get some peace and quiet around here?" asked the sheriff.

"Dad, it's Beacon Hills," said Stiles. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, I expected as much," sighed the sheriff. "But I can dream, can't i?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Stilinski," said Scott. "We're here and we're going to protect this place. Not just me and Stiles, but the whole pack."

"You'll do a great job, Scott," said the sheriff, a small smile crossing his face.

"Thanks, Mr. Stilinski," said Scott.

"You should all get some rest," said Melissa. "You look half dead."

"Well, we did nearly die," said Stiles. "Pretty sure Scott and I might have actually died for a minute there."

"My point exactly," said Melissa. "We'll order some pizza and everyone can crash here tonight."

"We should help with getting things back up and running," said Scott.

"You can do that tomorrow," said Melissa. "You've done more than enough today. Rest."

"Your mom's right," said Lydia. "We won't be much good to anyone if we die of exhaustion."

"They're right," said Derek. "We could definitely use some rest."

"And pizza sounds amazing right now," added Kira. "I'm starving."

"Alright," surrendered Scott. "We'll get some rest."

"Good," said Melissa. "Now what kind of pizza does everyone want?"

Everyone excitedly chimed in on what kind of pizza they should get. Miraculously, the pizza shop hadn't been damaged by the lightning and was doing its best to keep up with the demand. The pizza took a while to get there, but the pack was able to just relax and hang out for once while they waited. After about an hour, the pizza arrived and everyone devoured it quickly. Not long after they had finished eating, their tiredness hit them. Melissa directed everyone to their respective locations for the night and the pack members quickly fell into a deep and restful sleep.

The next day, the pack volunteered in the efforts to clean up and rebuild the damaged parts of Beacon Hills.The school was even offering extra credit to students who volunteered, but the pack was doing it before they ever found out about that perk. Scott and Stiles were working to clear some debris from a main road when they saw Danny walking up them. He had a big smile on his face and seemed to be carrying something.

"What's up, Danny?" said Scott as Danny finally reached them.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your victory," said Danny. "It was incredible to watch. I'm glad I got to record it in the history books."

"Please tell me things aren't always this intense," said Stiles.

"Not really," said Danny. "Something on this scale is really rare, but you know how it is here."

"Unfortunately," said Stiles, frowning.

"Anyway, I have something for you," said Danny. "A gift from me and the rest of the Mahealani family."

He handed Scott the cloth wrapped packaged he had been carrying. Scott unfolded the cloth, revealing a leather bound tome with gilded lettering. The cover had a painting of the nemeton and Scott's new pack standing around it. The words on the front were "The War Of The Nemeton."

"It's your story," said Danny. "From beginning to end, it's everything that happened during this event. I decided to call it The War Of The Nemeton. That's how the Mahealani family will remember it."

"Wow! Thanks, Danny," said Scott. "I think it's a great name for it."

"That book looks awesome," said Stiles. "Did you make it?"

"Yeah, part of the Mahealani tradition is that we hand make each of our history books," answered Danny. "We name and decorate them according to the events they contain."

"Is this your only one?" asked Scott

"No, I have my family's copy in our library," replied Danny. "Anyway, congrats again, guys. You were truly amazing to watch. I can't wait to record the rest of the history you and your pack will make. We're counting on you."

"Thanks, Danny," said Scott. "We'll do our best."

"Yeah, I know you will," said Danny as he turned around to leave. "Good luck and see you at practice!"

A few minutes later, Danny was gone. Scott and Stiles hurried to finish their work so they could get back home and show the pack the book that Danny had given them.

When they had finished with their project, Scott texted everyone to meet up at his house again. Once everyone was there, Scott showed them what Danny had given them. They were all impressed at the detail Danny had put into the book. It was a piece of art as much as it was a history book. They flipped through the pages and found that they were all handwritten in an elegant and beautiful font with occasional accompanying illustrations. On the last page of the book was a large drawing of Scott and Stiles standing side by side in their soul link states, complete with tattoos and glowing eyes. The rest of the pack stood just behind them, forming a group picture. They seemed battle worn, but determined and happy nevertheless.

“I never knew Danny was such a good artist,” said Allison.

“Yeah, he always did well in art class,” said Lydia. “But this is particularly impressive. I guess his family really does put a lot of emphasis on their history books.”

“He did say it was an art and tradition for them,” said Scott.

“That’s a lot of dedication,” said Derek. “I’m glad someone’s been keeping the history of what happens in Beacon Hills though. They’ll always remember even when everyone else has forgotten or remains oblivious.”

“Yeah,” said Scott. “Hey, come with me, guys. There’s somewhere I think we should go.”

The pack shrugged and followed Scott on his motorbike out to the very edge of Beacon Hills. Allison knew where they were going. It was where they used to meet what felt like a lifetime ago. They climbed up to the top of the rock face that overlooked all of Beacon Hills. They could see the entire town from there. The sun had already set and the town was glowing with all of its light, fighting against the darkness of the night. Scott stood at the tip of the rock face while Stiles took his place at his friend’s left side. Derek stood to Scott’s right while the rest of the pack filled in behind and around them.

“This is our home,” said Scott. “Beacon Hills. There’s a lot of other supernaturals here besides us, but there’s a lot of humans, too. It’s our job to protect all of them. This town needs someone to protect it and that’s us.”

“And this town has a world druid and a true alpha to watch over it now,” said Stiles, his eyes beginning to glow emerald green.

“And we have the knowledge and help of the Hale family,” said Scott, flashing a smile at Derek. “We’re going to need you, too.”

Derek just smiled at Scott as he turned to face the rest of the pack.

“We- No. I need all of you,” said Scott. “I can’t do this without you. I don’t always know what I’m doing, but I always try my best.”

“And that’s more than enough,” said Allison, flourishing her bow.

“We’re not going anywhere,” said Jayce as he bent some of his water around him.

“I’ll fight with you,” said Isaac, clicking his claws together as his eyes turned yellow.

“Who else would find all the clues for you if I wasn’t around?” said Lydia with a sly smile.

“You know I’ll always fight beside you and everyone here,” said Kira with a determined nod.

“We’re a pack,” said Derek. “We’ll work together and look out for each other. Beacon Hills is in good hands. You’re going to be good at this, Scott.”

Scott just smiled, turning back around to face Beacon Hills, and said, “Thanks, Derek.”

Clasping Scott’s shoulder with his hand, Stiles said, “And you still got me, so I’d say we’re golden.”

Scott laughed and replied, “Totally.”

“I think you should give us a send off,” said Lydia.

“What do you mean?” asked Scott.

“She means a howl, you idiot,” said Derek.

“Oh, yeah!” said Scott.

Scott shifted, his eyes glowing a deep yet brilliant crimson red. Derek had also shifted next to him, his eyes glowing. Scott opened his mouth and unleashed a powerful howl that reverberated throughout all of Beacon Hills. It might be terrifying to others, but everyone in the pack felt empowered by it. It gave them confidence and strength.

The pack stood there together overlooking Beacon Hills as the night grew later. They were ready. They’d been through so much and survived. They’d gained new allies and new powers. Together, they would defend Beacon Hills and everyone who lived there.


End file.
